Judge tells Englewood massage therapist to take plea or be tried for molesting customers

ONLY ON CVP: An Englewood massage therapist charged with molesting a half-dozen female customers has two weeks to either take a plea or go to trial.

Photo Credit: *CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia*

Jerry DeMarco

04/07/2015 7:21 p.m.

An indictment returned last April accuses Colombian national Felipe Cruz, 53, of nearly dozen counts of “unwanted sexual contact” and three counts of sexual assault by digital penetration.

Cruz has remained held on $25,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail — down from an original $75,000 — since Englewood police and members of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office arrested him on Nov. 22, 2013.

Superior Court Judge Frances McGrogan told Cruz yesterday to make up his mind by April 20 and that trial motions will begin if his attorney and prosecutors don’t strike a deal by then.

STORY / PHOTO: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia

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