Gym manager assaulted customers, demanded nude photos from worker, CA officials say
A gym manager accused of sexually assaulting two customers also refused to pay a worker unless she sent him nude photos, California prosecutors say.
Tristan Arfi, 42, the chief operating officer and manager at YBX Fitness in San Jose, was charged with seven felony counts of sexual assault, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said in a Nov. 22 news release.
When McClatchy News reached YBX FITNESS for comment via email, Marsanne Weese, Arfi’s attorney, said “Arfi vehemently denies all of the allegations against him.”
“We look forward to defending him against these baseless claims in a court of law,” Weese said.
“Thanks to brave victims and the San Jose Police Department, this predator has been arrested,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in the release.
Prosecutors said they worked with the San Jose Police Department and found two female customers who accused Arfi of sexual battery at the gym.
Both women told investigators that “Arfi offered them a free private massage,” prosecutors said.
However, when the women were alone with Arfi, he’s accused of groping and caressing “them in a sexually inappropriate manner,” according to prosecutors.
Arfi is also accused of trying to extort one of the gym’s employees, prosecutors said.
The woman told investigators that he “refused to pay her for her work at the gym, unless she agreed to send him nude photographs of herself,” prosecutors said.
Arfi also made gym employees sign nondisclosure agreements, the workers told investigators, adding that he threatened to take legal action against them if they talked about anything they saw at the gym.
“However, non-disclosure agreements are invalid in California if they prevent a witness from disclosing information about unlawful acts in the workplace, such as harassment, discrimination, or – of course – a crime,” prosecutors said.
Arfi is a convicted sex offender, according to prosecutors.
He has a felony conviction stemming from a 2019 incident that “involved lewd acts he committed against a minor while at a boxing gym in Menlo Park,” prosecutors said.
At the time, a teenage girl reported that Arfi, her personal trainer and owner of the gym, assaulted her, Menlo Park police said, CBS News reported.
Arfi, who was arrested on Thursday, Nov. 21, is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 23, according to prosecutors.
If convicted as charged, he could face “years in prison,” prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said they believe Arfi may have additional victims and ask anyone with information to contact Investigator Christina Hanks at chanks@dao.sccgov.org or 408-792-2851.
This story was originally published November 22, 2024 at 2:29 PM with the headline "Gym manager assaulted customers, demanded nude photos from worker, CA officials say."
