West Kelowna acupuncturist charged with sexual assault

A West Kelowna acupuncturist, who is already banned from treating female patients, has been charged with sexual assault.

Dong Lin, 65, was arrested in late January in response to allegations received by police.

He was released from custody with bail conditions including that he “must not practice acupuncture or any other paramedical service in a one-on-one setting with female clients,” according to an RCMP media release issued today, Aug. 20.

In February, the College of Complementary Health Professionals of BC warned the public in a notice that the acupuncturist and traditional Chinese medicine practitioner wasn’t allowed to treat female patients and he’d been told to submit a record of everyone he’d seen to the regulator.

At that time, the college said the conditions had been put into place while it carried out a investigation following a complaint from a female patient.

“Allegations of sexual assault against someone providing massage services are extremely concerning,” West Kelowna RCMP media relations officer Cpl. Devon Gerrits said in the release.

“Although a charge has been laid, we are releasing a photo of Dong Lin as we believe there may be people with additional information that could assist in advancing the investigation, and we urge them to contact us.

Lin, who goes by the name Peter Lin, according to his website, has been practicing traditional Chinese medication and acupuncture for more than 30 years and has been registered in BC since 2012. He moved to Canada in 2009 and has been practicing since 2020.

Anyone with information, or who wants to make a report of sexual assault, is asked to call West Kelowna RCMP at 250-768-2880.