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Unauthorized Massage Therapy School in Richmond Under Fire for Operating Without Proper Accreditation
The Indiana Department of Workforce Development has ordered a Richmond massage therapy school to cease operations, effective immediately, after discovering it lacked proper accreditation. According to a cease-and-desist letter obtained by News 8, the school did not have the required authorization from the Office for Career and Technical Schools.
Students at the school claim they were forced to provide free massages to the public, put in physically dangerous situations, and lost thousands of dollars. The school, "That Massage School," claimed on its website that it was accredited, offered lessons from licensed teachers, provided hands-on training with clients, and guaranteed students would be licensed massage therapists by the end of their coursework.
Four students shared their experiences with I-Team 8, including Deb Kirkman, a science teacher in Wayne County; Andrea Maples, an insurance company employee; Brenda Cummings, a traditional Native American artist; and another student who chose to remain anonymous out of fear for her safety.
Cease-and-desist issued
The school's website listed multiple locations across the state, but many of these locations had no address listed. The Indiana Secretary of State's Office confirmed that one location in Goshen was filed under the name "That Massage Place" in 2017.
In an email response to News 8, the school acknowledged its Anderson location is accredited, while the Richmond location is not. They claimed understaffing at the Department of Workforce Development has kept their accreditation application from being processed.
The private Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation does not list the school as having accreditation. Students also claim that the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) confirmed the school is not accredited and revoked its membership. The organization states that students must attend an accredited school to receive their license.
I-Team 8 verified with the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency that Joshua Ridenour, the school's operator, is not a licensed therapist. Students claim he claimed to be licensed when the business opened, but Ridenour admitted he does not have his license and never claimed to be licensed. Ridenour was previously in trouble with the massage therapy world, having been sued by the American Certified Massage School in 2012 for not paying fees.
“It has come to our attention that That Massage School is operating at the Richmond location without the required authorization from the Office for Career and Technical Schools,” the letter said. “To reiterate, That Massage School (Richmond) is not authorized to offer to the public training, and/or educational services for a fee, charge, or tuition.”
“This was going to be my retirement,” Kirkman said.
“It was going to be for my future,” Maples said.
“It was going to be for my future,” Cummings said.
“Our Richmond location was originally classified as an externship site,” the school said. “However, our Anderson school is an accredited/authorized school.”
‘Within an hour, we were massaging the public for free’
Each of the students began their course work at That Massage School at varying points after its opening. The students purchased a course workbook and were told that it was generated by artificial intelligence.The students attended their first day of class and each received thirty minutes to an hour of training before they were told to begin treating clients.“She gave me 30 minutes of instruction and then said, ‘OK, go work on these people,’” Kirkman said. “She said, ‘You’ll know what to do.’”“Within an hour, we were massaging the public for free,” Maples said.The students said they were never taught how to properly perform a massage, including for clients with preexisting health conditions.“One of the particular methods could cause someone to crush the carotid artery or the aorta,” Kirkman said.The students say there was no teacher in the room to supervise appointments with clients, despite it being required for training to get a license.Lack of supervision leads to dangerous situation, student saysThe students say the lack of guidance exposed them to potentially dangerous situations with clients.“He wanted to see pictures of all of the girls, so that he could make his appointment based on the pictures,” Cummings said of one client scheduling a massage appointment with one of her fellow students. “During the massage, he was being aggressive, grabbing at her, grabbing at her legs.”The student, who wished to remain anonymous, says she escaped the room and got away from the client, but narrowly. She said Ridenour refused to report the incident to police and told her it would be the client’s word against hers.She said the client was not flagged in their system and they received no training on how to handle similar situations.“You don’t do that,” Kirkman said. “You cannot do that. You cannot give back to her what was taken.”Additional discoveriesThe women say they continued to make shocking discoveries.“When I would go in in the mornings, they would just be getting up off of the massage table,” Cummings said about Ridenour and the other staff at the school.Cummings said Ridenour admitted to the students that staff was living inside the school.“They are definitely sleeping there,” Cummings said.The students then band together and brought their concerns to the Department of Workforce Development.“They said you need to stop what you are doing,” Maples said about what the department told her. “Don’t go back in there, because you are an unpaid worker.”Following reports from the students, the department issued the cease-and-desist letter.After the letter was delivered, I-Team 8 went to the school to ask if they were still operating. The school did not answer the door.Ridenour sent an email to students in response to the letter.“While we cannot go into details at this time due to legal guidance, we encourage you to think critically,” the email said. If you invested your life into something you love and sacrificed greatly for, would you risk it all for a shortcut? If you consulted an attorney, would you trust their advice and act accordingly? Have you ever been accused of something you didn’t do? Has the government ever accused someone and was accidentally wrong? We stand by the principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty.’”Red flags missed
The students say other organizations also missed red flags.
“The Wayne County Chamber of Commerce did a ribbon-cutting ceremony welcoming the school to our town,” Maples said.
The photos from the ribbon-cutting have since been wiped from the chamber’s social media page.
“While we have more than 500 Chamber members, our organization does not investigate businesses,” the chamber said in a statement. “The DWD (Department of Workforce Development) and Better Business Bureau are the ones we refer to for any inquiries. We will defer to them for any necessary action.”
Around the time of the school’s opening, the local newspaper, interviewed Ridenour.
“The local newspaper also did their big spread welcoming ‘That Massage School’ here and in that article it also mentioned that they were accredited,” Maples said.
The mayor of Richmond, Ron Oler, also shared a statement.
“Beyond what has been reported publicly, we do not have any additional details,” Oler said. “Our hearts go out to the students affected by this situation. Please understand that while we wish we could offer more immediate clarity, matters of accreditation and licensure fall under state jurisdiction, not that of the city.”
Moving forward
Each one of the women say they’ve lost time that will never get back due to Ridenour’s misleading.
But, it’s not just their time they’ve lost.
“I have not only been robbed of my time and my money, but my dream, and that’s priceless,” Kirkman said.
Though they cannot get their time back, some say they do plan to move forward with getting their massage therapy licenses.
Statement from That Massage School
“Thank you for reaching out regarding our school and the recent developments. We appreciate the opportunity to share our perspective and shed light on the situation.
“We believe in the president’s mission and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in clearing up corruption within the government. The Department of Workforce Development (DWD) is supposed to help create jobs and job opportunities, yet its actions have done the opposite. Richmond, Indiana, has a 21% unemployment rate, yet instead of supporting a school that provides job training, the DWD has targeted it. Our Richmond location was originally classified as an externship site. However, our Anderson school is an accredited/authorized school (see attachment).
“We sought clarification from the state regarding externships. Their response was that they never said externships weren’t allowed. However, when we asked for specific sources to clarify their stance, no citations were provided. We have emails from the state documenting this exchange (See attachment). Ivy Tech and Massage Envy both operate externship programs, and neither undergoes inspections. Despite this, our school has been unfairly scrutinized, raising concerns about the inconsistent enforcement of regulations.
“Due to DWD understaffing, our paperwork had been submitted since October with no replies from them. We had submitted multiple emails without response. In the meantime, we were working toward having our Richmond location become an authorized/accredited location to further support our students.
“Josh has never claimed to be a massage therapist and has never performed or taught massage within the program. His focus has always been on hiring the most passionate, qualified massage therapists to provide high-quality instruction. He started these schools because he saw major flaws in the education system and wanted to fix them rather than just complain about them.
“The average massage school costs $13,000–$18,000, while our program is currently $1,500—making it significantly more accessible. Traditional courses have fixed schedules that make it difficult for working students or parents to attend. We created a flexible, self-paced course designed to remove these barriers and give people the opportunity to pursue a career in massage therapy.
“Students often tell us that without our program, they would not have had the opportunity to attend massage school. Unfortunately, we have always been a target for unfair scrutiny. We have students and clinic managers who would be happy to share their experiences and be interviewed.
“We are actively raising funds to fight for these students and will continue to stand against corruption in the DWD. We believe in our mission and what it means to people, and we will not stop fighting for those who rely on this opportunity.”
That Massage School
That Massage School’s statement included the name of a Fort Wayne clinic manager. I-Team 8 reached out to the manager, but did not hear back.