A Battle Ground chiropractor who’s accused of inappropriately touching two patients has a history of similar complaints lodged against him with the Department of Health. However, police say there was insufficient evidence at that time to charge him.
Mark S. LaRue, 64, of Kalama appeared Friday in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of second-degree rape and indecent liberties. He owns Battle Ground Family Chiropractic at 713 W. Main St., Suite 201. LaRue has practiced chiropractic medicine at his clinic since 2002 and has his chiropractic license in both Washington and Oregon.
He is accused of touching a 22-year-old woman and her 47-year-old mother in a sexual manner during massage appointments in April and May.
The 22-year-old woman reported to police that on several occasions LaRue rubbed the outside of her vaginal area and touched her breast without her consent. During her last appointment with him, LaRue took her to a back storage room where he provided her with marijuana, and they smoked together. He then kissed her without her permission, and during her massage, inserted a finger into her vagina, again without her consent, according to an affidavit of probable cause.
The woman’s mother — who typically scheduled her appointments after her daughter’s — said that on at least one occasion she walked by the massage room while her daughter was in there and saw her completely naked with her underwear around her ankles. And during her own massages, she said she felt LaRue’s partially erect penis touch her hand and believes it was intentional, the affidavit states.
In an interview with police, LaRue admitted to smoking marijuana with the younger woman and to kissing her. He said that during her massage, one of his fingers accidentally touched her vagina, but he denied the other allegations. As for the other woman’s allegations, he said it was probably his cellphone or keys in his pocket that she felt, court records said.
He provided police with notes from his sessions with the younger woman, in which in one he wrote that his right hand touched the woman’s genitals, the affidavit states. “I quickly withdrew my hands and apologized for the mistake,” LaRue wrote.
LaRue told police that in 2003 he was investigated by the Battle Ground Police Department for inappropriately touching a female patient.
Investigators contacted the Department of Health and learned that there were actually three complaints filed against LaRue with similar allegations.
In the 2003 complaint, the patient reported that LaRue touched both of her breasts. Another patient who filed a complaint in 2004, reported that LaRue intentionally exposed her breast during a massage and touched it without permission. And while massaging her buttocks, he exposed her genitals. She also reported that he intentionally touched her hand with his erect penis. A third patient also reported in 2004 that LaRue pulled down her pants and underwear and did not provide any coverage for her genitals. He also massaged her breast and buttocks, exposing her genitals, according to the court document.
After learning of the most recent allegations, LaRue’s receptionist reportedly told police that she wasn’t surprised. She said she noticed several things that were odd about how LaRue treated the 22-year-old woman compared to other clients. Her appointments always went longer, the massage room door was closed, and the woman never used a gown and removed her pants during the massage, court records said.
On Friday, LaRue’s bail was set at $10,000. He will be arraigned July 25.
Police say the investigation is ongoing and detectives ask that anyone with information contact Detective Sgt. Kim Armstrong at 360-342-5252 or by email at kim.armstrong@cityofbg.org.
