By Meg Peters
Review Co-Editor
Several instances in Dr. Craig Stasio’s past have left previous employees of Dr. Tina Marshall puzzled as to why she requested he restructure her business practice.
‘We researched him and asked her questions about him. She said, ‘he is just a bad business person,?? former dental assistant Nancy Kordus said.
That business person also had control of her books, during a two week period Stasio was put in charge of the Lake Orion dentist office.
Kordus worked first for Dr. Raphael Flajole’s dentist practice and then Marshall’s at 2951 S. Baldwin Rd. from September 1993 to August 2014 when she was fired.
Kordus said she knew that was the end of their ‘perfect team of dentist professionals? when Jim Marshall, Tina’s husband, found his calling with Stasio’s ministry.
Previous patient coordinator Sara Bambard said Stasio was given complete control to make internal changes.
‘She [Tina] introduced us and said he is now taking over, she is just the dentist and he is taking charge,? Bambard said. ‘He said, ‘I just want to show you how much I’m in charge? and he had copies of all her bank statements and credit cards. From there he told me the whole staff is ‘s***? and could replace us in a days time.?
Stasio did not admit to inappropriate language, however, confirmed he needed control.
‘I said to Tina, ‘the only way this is going to work, where I’ll have any capacity to help you, is they have to be under the impression that when I come in I have jurisdiction to do what I see I have jurisdiction to do.?
Stasio, who owns separate chiropractic and massage therapy facilities in Clinton Township, is also a Christian minister for an unorganized and unstructured following.
He dispels rumors that he is a cult leader and a doomsday preacher, however believes that Jesus will return to earth and before that occurs, people left on earth will face intense tribulation.
He did confirm two bankruptcies totaling almost $2 million for his first business Stasio Chiropractic Center in Warren, something Kordus found out from watching Fox 2 investigative news reports back in March 2014.
Stasio was in the process of renewing his lease when the landlord of the office building sold the building ‘from under our feet.?
‘When I lost everything and I had to leave, I couldn’t stay afloat. I tried, but financially I couldn’t do it, so I had to declare bankruptcy.?
One component of the bankruptcy was unfulfilled gift certificates that he had to file.
‘We were doing like 500 massages a week, and I was selling pre-purchased $10 gift certificates predicate on the fact that all these students would do their externships there. When he sold the building, that was gone, there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t take these people somewhere else because I was licensed to do it [massages] there, so that was a big part of the bankruptcy too that I had to file.?
Stasio is in his third year of ten in paying off a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. He reorganized and reopened his business under Agape Massage Therapy and Chiropractic in Clinton Township, where he began a massage school.
His current massage office continues to offer $19.99 and $29.99 massages, of which the therapists get half, to ‘do something nice for the public.?
According to the 2008 Disciplinary action report of the Michigan Bureau of Health Professionals, Craig Allen Stasio, D.C., was fined and put on probation May 13, 2008 for a violation of General Duty/Negligence.
One report from 2004 determined Stasio had engaged in sexual activity with a massage therapist, which Stasio also confirmed.
Stasio was considering hiring the masseuse to manage another massage school he planned on opening. While the report maintains Stasio asked her to perform a massage on him, to judge her techniques, Stasio said it was the other way around. ?
?’She set me up to try to extort me for money,? Stasio said. ‘She was very, very blunt, throwing herself, I did not sleep with her. We fooled around, and then I told her, this can’t happen, and I left.?
Stasio said the woman called the police alleging she was sexually assaulted hours after the actual incident.
Stasio was taken to jail in Sterling Heights, and after being released hired a retired FBI investigator for the case, resulting in the prosecuting attorney dropping all charges. Stasio said he could prove he was not even in the same city as the massage therapist when she made the call, and had multiple witnesses and testimony.
‘I launched a lawsuit against Warren and Sterling Heights and the police departments. They brutalized me and dislocated my shoulder. It would have been a multi-million dollar lawsuit. But I dropped it because I became a Christian, and right after I got born again I felt like God wanted me to let it go, so I let it go.?
Stasio turned to Christianity ten years ago after a ‘radical life changing supernatural encounter with God.?
He described it as follows.
It started with a couple dreams in fall of 2005. One night Stasio woke at 3 a.m. to find the TV had turned on, flipped in front of his eyes to a religious channel, and a man pointed directly at him saying ‘you need Jesus.?
‘I was so freaked out I unplugged it [the TV].?
Flash forward a couple weeks, Stasio had a vision he was falling through a dark, cavernous hole, hit the ground and became paralyzed. He said he felt a presence, in what he recollected as Hell.
‘All of a sudden I smelled and heard something coming towards me, and I just got a glimpse of what it was. It was a very horrid looking creature beyond your worst nightmare, and as it went to grab my arm, I came out of the vision.?
Later Stasio said it was a demon, or Satan himself.
Following the vision, he woke with a start knowing he was going to die the next day. A psychic called his office and then Stasio, confirming he would die at?1 p.m.’Stasio raced home to be with his family, and another episode happened.
‘All of a sudden found myself prostrate on the floor in my den, crying my eyes out, saying things out of my mouth that I didn’t understand about Jesus, God, asking for forgiveness, just revelation of Him being crucified for my sin, just a powerful, emotional experience, which lasted for a half hour.?
Later that day, he had ‘one of the wildest experiences you could fathom.?
‘I actually had a very radical encounter with God the personal,? he said, involving blinding light and fatherly voices.
After Stasio’s visions, he met the demon one more time in Barnes and Noble.
‘He was behind me’and it felt like the same thing in that cave. I knew that that thing’demon’that was in that cave was now in Barnes and Noble.?
Stasio came to a realization, and began praying.
‘The funniest thing for me was, if the demonic realm is real, so is God,? he said. ‘If the one side is real, the other side is real too, and that’s why you have a lot of Christians in America who go to church who have never seen this stuff, they’ve never experienced anything.?
Stasio said he has prayed for people to cast demons out of them, and has seen supernatural occurrences that no one would believe, but that that is normal for him.
‘If you actually took the Bible and read it, even the New Testament, and you took my actual life, and you put my life side by side with any of the people in the gospels, I fit right in. Like cookie cutter.’People wonder why, it’s because it’s supposed to be, that’s the normal Christian minister’s life.?
Stasio said all of his Christian friends and followers have experienced their own version of a subjective encounter with God.
‘They don’t open themselves up for it, most of the people are actually resisting it, mocking it, and then they get hammered [with a subjective encounter],? he said. ‘Haven’t you ever had an intuition inside, its not like god is audibly speaking to me, its almost like, the best way to describe it, there’s an intuition where you just know things, have you ever just had a random thought pop into your head, for lack of a better way of explaining it to you, it sounds like its your own thoughts in your own head, but you didn’t think it, that’s Him [God].?
‘If you’re Christian, and you believe in the Bible, they’re normal things,? his wife Danielle Stasio said.
Craig questions Christians who don’t have individual subjective encounters with God.
‘Most Christian people wear a cross, say a prayer, give some money, sing a song, but what does the Bible say??
The bulk of Stasio’s followers are in the twenties to thirties, with some as old as 60. Typically they are vulnerable, had drug addictions, were depressed or suicidal, and found Stasio, who they often call ‘the Prophet,? and changed their lives around.
Previous reports indicated that Stasio tore families apart, and told his followers not to contact family or friends.
He said all of his meetings are open, and he has invited parents and family members to attend but they refuse to do so, asking his million-dollar question, ‘where are the parents??
Both Jim and Tina Marshall said his past is of no importance, and trust him along with his recommendations.
Four new employees from Stasio’s following were trained to take over lost dental positions, including their daughter, 26-year-old Brittney, who was working at Agape.
For Kordus, the Christian music was too much.
‘To me, it was just gradually working the way into our minds. We were all on edge. We were trying to be nice to the patients and do good dental work, but she kept forcing the music and her beliefs on us,? she said. ‘When I mentioned the various ethnic and religious groups of our patients, her response was ‘you have to plant the seeds?. Several patients questioned the music, and I turned it off and turned on the TV. So I was ‘disobedient?’her word.’And it was on 24/7, whether someone was in the office or not, because you have to keep the ‘evil demons? out. Her words exactly.?
‘We want people to know we are Christians, so we’re not only going to do the talk, but we’re going to do the walk, so that’s what we are doing,? Jim Marshall said.
Now the Marshall’s are considering installing a massage chair at the dentist office.
‘That was an idea,? Jim said.