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A male instructor from Trust Yoga will be charged for allegedly molesting five women.

Allegedly molested five women

According to a police news release on Nov. 29, the 32-year-old man will be charged with 10 counts of outrage of modesty tomorrow (Nov. 30).

The man was accused of molesting five women between the ages of 24 and 38, during yoga classes in 2019 and 2020, while he was teaching as their yoga instructor.

If convicted, the man can be punished with an imprisonment term of up to two years, a fine, caning, or any combination of the mentioned punishments.

Background

The incident was first brought to light in July 2020, when a woman revealed on Twitter that a yoga instructor at Trust Yoga has molested her at a 4pm class on Jul. 11, 2020.

The woman also detailed the male instructor's actions, and said he allegedly smacked her left butt cheek, and stroked her butt and crotch for around three seconds while she was in an inversion pose.

An inversion pose typically involves an elevated torso, and the heart is higher than the head.

After his alleged actions, the woman said the instructor "acted as if nothing untoward had happened and just continued teaching the class".

The woman said she was so stunned at the "gross violation" that she kneeled down on her mat for most of the time, and began to dissociate from the situation.

In her tweets, the woman said she told a male staff member about what happened, to which the male staff member responded and said it was not the instructor's first time for such incidents.

After the woman's experience was made public, other women came forward with their own accounts and police reports were made against the same instructor. At least four police reports were filed against the man afterwards.

In response to these allegations, Trust Yoga launched an internal investigation on the instructor and the instructor took a leave of absence since August 2020.

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Top image from Trust Yoga/Facebook