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2-years in jail for Abbotsford masseur who sexually assaulted
12 women multiple times
Reinhard ‘Bud’ Loewen’s actions were those of ‘long-term, committed
serial sex predator,’ says judge
Jessica Peters
Nov 2, 2023 3:57 PM
Reinhard “Bud” Loewen has been sentenced to two years in prison for sexually assaulting 12 women while massaging them. (Facebook photo)
A former Abbotsford masseur has been sentenced to two years in prison for sexually assaulting 12 women while providing services to them.
Reinhard ‘Bud’ Loewen, 59, will also have to submit his DNA to the National Sex Offender Registry. He had at one point been facing a total of 24 charges, but it had been reduced to six counts that affected 12 women, many of whom were pregnant.
In B.C. Supreme Court Thursday (Nov. 2), Justice Ian Caldwell explained why a conditional sentence (house arrest) would not have been sufficient to deter Loewen from offending again.
That such a thing was even considered is just disgraceful.
Loewen advertised his services for free or very low-cost on Facebook pages, sometimes in the form of contests, specifically targeting pregnant women. Caldwell read the detailed accounts of how those massages turned into sexual assaults for 12 different women on multiple occasions over about two years.
“These are the actions of a long-term, committed, serial sex predator,” Caldwell said.
Caldwell also read from victim impact statements from several of the women, who are not to be identified under a publication ban.
“It was hard to have to tell my mom that her baby was hurt,” one woman’s statement read.
“I felt like he violated my baby,” another had said.
Some of his victims have suffered anxiety, anxiety attacks, required anti-depressants, and have had significant impacts on their lives and relationships due to the nature of the assault. One victim lost her job because she was unable to leave her bedroom.
“It’s robbed my children of their mother,” that one had said.
“I almost booked my 16-year-old daughter with him,” one explained. “The devastation sits very deep in me. What if it was her?”
In explaining his decision, Caldwell read portions from similar case law that dealt with sexual assaults during massage treatments in Canada. In each case, a decision had to be made between incarceration or a conditional sentence that would allow the offender to serve his time in the community.
Massage therapy falls under a position of trust or authority, which Caldwell ruled that “Mr. Loewen clearly abused.”
“He relied on the trust bestowed to (him) to attack his victims,” he said, with significant impact to them.
He planned and deliberated the attacks, rather than “simply happening on victims.” He also offered them financial incentives, by way of free or deeply discounted massage therapy.
“He targeted financially and physically vulnerable victims,” Caldwell said, and further isolated them in order to assault them.
And, he added, this was not a one-time event, but a pattern over a course of about two years.
There were some mitigating factors, but a doctor who assessed Loewen found that while he showed some remorse, he was also concerned that nobody was listening to his side of the story. The doctor also felt he was not being fully candid about his actions.
But Loewen had fully complied with bail conditions, has no criminal record, and a strong family and church base that continues to support him.
Some of those supports were in the Abbotsford courtroom for the sentencing, as were a large number of his victims.
One woman clapped when Loewen was handcuffed, while his family members clasped hands. Loewen looked to his family before being taken away for processing.
He was charged with a series of six consecutive charges ranging from three to five months each, adding up to the two years of incarceration. Following his release, he will serve 36 months of probation, with a list of conditions and ancillary orders, including providing a DNA sample, a 10-year firearms prohibition, and strict orders to not contact or be near any of his 12 victims.
“If you see them, you must leave immediately,” Caldwell underlined.
He may not provide massage services, and must remove any information from the internet that offers such services within 24 hours of his release from prison. If he wants massage services during that time, the practitioner must be informed of his history, and a male supervisor must be present who is also aware.
Loewen will also be required to inform his parole officer of any address or name changes, and his employment, for the course of his three-year probation.
He was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of $200 per count, totalling $1,200 payable within 60 days of his sentencing.
$200 per count - Good grief! That should make the victims feel so much better as Loewen walks out of jail next year.
2 years for dozens of assaults on vulnerable women is surely a bad joke. Where is the justice? For a woman who may have been abused several times, this means a sentence of a few weeks for each crime. In fact, he will certainly be released next year, reducing the sentence to a matter of days per crime. The "Justice" in "Canadian Justice" is a complete farce.
Loewen formerly operated Bud’s Massage Therapy. He started that business in 2017 out of a basement of a home in the 35400 block of Munroe Avenue in Abbotsford that also had an unrelated hair salon.
Loewen was first charged in December 2020. He was not certified as a massage therapist and had taken only a one-week course in late 2016 through “Brandon Raynor’s School of Natural Therapies.” That course is designed to train someone to give massages to friends and family.
‘Bail system is failing’: Calls grow for answers after N.S. mother killed
By Rebecca Lau Global News
Posted November 2, 2023 10:17 am
pdated November 2, 2023 2:21 pm
WATCH: A Nova Scotia family is seeking answers and accountability after a woman was killed this week in a hit and run. Hollie Boland was allegedly struck by a car driven by her ex-partner. As Ella MacDonald reports, the incident is being called a horrific act of domestic violence.
Friends and family of a Nova Scotia woman who was killed this week say her death was preventable, and are calling for accountability in the judicial system that failed her.
Hollie Marie Boland of Dartmouth, N.S., died from her injuries on Monday in the Halifax suburb of Cole Harbour after she was hit by a car, police say.
The man accused of killing her is her former partner, court records show, and was out on bail while facing previous charges for allegedly assaulting her.
“We feel at this moment the system failed Hollie, and if they hadn’t, she would still be here with all of us and her babies,” a statement from the Boland family read.
A memorial of flowers and cards at the intersection in Cole Harbour, N.S. where Hollie Boland was struck by a vehicle. Ella MacDonald/Global News
On social media, her aunt Madeline Rhodenizer called Boland a beautiful, soft-hearted, funny, hard-working, mom of three children who had gone back to school to “make a life for her and her kids.”
“The children now have no Mom,” she wrote. “But it could have been prevented. Someone needs to be held accountable for this. So many mistakes made by the system that was supposed to protect her.”
Accused was facing previous charges
Aaron Daniel Crawley, 33, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death and is scheduled back in court Nov. 29.
The hit-and-run Monday prompted an emergency alert at the time, after Crawley allegedly fled the scene.
Aaron Daniel Crawley, 33, was identified as the hit-and-run suspect. Provided/NS RCMP
According to a police news release, a “Good Samaritan” tried to help Boland, who was being held against her will by a man on Shrewsbury Road, in Cole Harbour. Investigators say that when the Good Samaritan intervened, she and Boland were knocked to the ground by the suspect.
Police allege the driver used his car to strike the woman he had been detaining and fled the scene.
Boland died of her injuries in hospital, while the woman who had intervened suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Court documents show Crawley was facing previous charges for allegedly assaulting Boland, including one incident involving a car.
Provincial court Judge Brad Sarson nonetheless permitted Crawley’s release on conditions he stay away from Boland and four other people, not drive and remain at home except when going to his job or travelling for appointments.
Brian Cox, the president of the Nova Scotia Crown Attorneys’ Association, says the prosecution had opposed Crawley’s release.
The public prosecution service has said Crawley was charged with dangerous operation of a car and assault with a weapon against Boland on May 24, and had been released on an undertaking to appear in court at a future date.
Despite being ordered not to have further contact, Crawley was charged with assaulting and choking Boland on June 8, as well as with breaching his release conditions.
And why was he not incarcerated at that time, since it was apparent he had no compulsion to abide by his bail conditions? Criminals who don't take their bail conditions seriously should not get a second chance to prove that.
“Recent amendments to the bail system were meant to modernize and streamline the system while also protecting the safety and rights of victims of intimate partner violence,” Cox told Global News.
“But when we have intimate partners who are killed while offenders are out on release that says to me that the bail system is failing and that the justice system is failing.”
Linda MacDonald, the co-founder of Persons Against Non-state Torture, goes further. The activist wants Boland’s death to be recognized not as a case of intimate partner violence, but as femicide.
“When you see women that are killed in femicide it’s a war — one house, one street at a time,” said MacDonald.
“It’s a very serious crime. It’s still minimized. It’s not a private matter.”
Boland’s friends and family echo that sentiment and say there needs to be accountability.
“My heart is broken,” her mother, Carol Boland, wrote on social media. “My beautiful daughter was murdered and left everyone who loved her.”
— with files from The Canadian Press and Global News’ Ella MacDonald
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