With a courtroom full of supporters — family, friends and even former clients who swear by his healing ways — Marcial Zapata was convicted Tuesday of criminal sexual penetration of a woman he gave a massage to in August.

Zapata, 39, worked out of his southwest Santa Fe mobile home as a sobador — a person who often uses massage, rubbing and other techniques in an effort to heal clients of various ailments.

In August, a woman who had twice before received massages from Zapata for neck pain told police he used his fingers to penetrate her vagina, telling her that her lower back pain was being caused by a "dropped uterus" that he could fix with his massage techniques.

"This is a man who has no medical training whatsoever, and he doesn't even know where a uterus is," Deputy District Attorney Krishna H. Singh said during closing arguments.

The prosecutor later added that Zapata did not do anything to cure the 34-year-old female victim, and "the only thing he did was get off (on what he did)."

Zapata has denied he did anything wrong. Defense attorney Rod Thompson, who described Zapata's work as "Mexican folk medicine," wondered in court why the woman did not get up and leave. In fact, he said, she paid him $40 for the session and went home. She didn't call police until the following day, after speaking with a friend.

The abuse reportedly lasted about 15 minutes.

"That's an eternity for having your genitals tortured," Thompson said.

The defense attorney also questioned whether the evidence presented proved a crime.

"How is it that he put her through this torturous session for 15 minutes (and) there's no DNA?" Thompson asked.

While it's true there was no DNA from Zapata found during a sexual-assault exam of the woman taken the next day, the woman's DNA was found under Zapata's fingernails the following day. And blood from the woman was found on shorts she wore during the massage that were left at Zapata's home after the assault.

It was that DNA and blood evidence that State District Judge Michael Vigil said convinced him of Zapata's guilt at the conclusion of the two-day bench trial. The judge did dismiss a criminal sexual contact charge.

A sexual-assault nurse who testified Monday said the woman suffered trauma to her cervix, which could only have been reached by penetration of several inches inside her vagina.

The case was investigated by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department.

Zapata, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, was released from federal custody before being returned to Santa Fe to stand trial. He will be sentenced May 18 and faces a possible three years in prison. After serving his sentence, Zapata, who had no prior criminal record, will be held on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement immigration detainer until he can be deported.

Singh applauded the courage of the victim for coming forward, despite being an undocumented immigrant herself. "This woman was very brave to come forward on her own regardless of the repercussions to her," he said.

Singh said prosecutors have reason to believe there is at least one more woman who has claimed to be violated by Zapata, but she has refused to come forward, possibly out of fear of being deported herself.

The deputy district attorney said any other possible victims of Zapata should contact police. During closing arguments, she also called Zapata's claim of being a respected sobador an "insult to all those people who are sobadors and who are massage therapists."

Zapata was not licensed as a massage therapist with the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department.

Contact Geoff Grammer at 986-3076 or ggrammer@sfnewmexican.com. Read his blog at SantaFeCrime.com.



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