A well-known fitness trainer convicted of attempting sexually assault a relative in Rancho Santa Margarita in 2012 was convicted again Tuesday in a retrial after he won a new trial on appeal.
John Spencer Ellis, 56, was convicted of a felony count of attempted sexual penetration by foreign object of a minor. Sentencing was set for April 24.
The victim came forward to authorities in November 2018 when she was 17 and the defendant sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said in a trial brief.
The victim said she “was never close” to him, but her mother prodded her to better her relationship with him, so she joined him for gym workouts because they shared a common interest in martial arts, prosecutors said.
The workouts were “normal” initially but then led to suggested massages and soft tissue work after workouts, prosecutors said. Ellis sexually assaulted her during one of these workouts as he “reached his hands inside of her workout shorts,” prosecutors said.
Another assault happened when he “reached inside her sports bar and began massaging her breast,” prosecutors said. Another assault occurred while making a “chiropractic adjustment,” prosecutors said.
In October 2012, she sent a text message to him “asking him to stop,” prosecutors said.
The victim kept quiet about the assaults until September 2018 when her mother visited her in Spain, where she was living at the time, prosecutors said. The victim said she was concerned Ellis would “retaliate and that her mom wouldn’t believe her,” prosecutors said.
A month later, the victim recorded a call with Ellis confronting him about the assaults, which led to an apology and Ellis crying, prosecutors said. The victim gave that recording to her mother, who personally confronted the defendant, who replied, “At least I didn’t have sex with her,” prosecutors said.
When Ellis was first convicted Oct. 9, 2023, of the same charge he was sentenced in November 2023 to a year in prison. Jurors in the 2023 trial acquitted him of a felony count of sexual penetration by a foreign object of a victim younger than 18. Two misdemeanor counts of sexual battery were dismissed Oct. 2, 2023.
When Ellis is scheduled to be sentenced in April he will not face any more time behind bars, but attorneys will discuss whether he will have to register as a sex offender. Before he won a new trial, Ellis was previously ordered to register as a sex offender for 10 years.
