Former UCLA gynecologist discovered responsible on 5 counts of intercourse abuse By Reuters

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – An obstetrician-gynecologist previously employed by the College of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) was discovered responsible on Thursday of 5 felony counts of sexually abusing sufferers, however jurors acquitted him of seven counts and deadlocked on 9 others.

The blended verdict within the sexual abuse trial of Dr. James Heaps, 65, who retired in 2018 after greater than 30 years at UCLA, was introduced in a press release by the Los Angeles County District Legal professional’s Workplace.

Sentencing was set for Nov. 17. A prosecutor stated Heaps faces greater than 20 years in state jail and should register as a intercourse offender, in keeping with the Los Angeles Metropolis Information Service (CNS).

Choose Michael Carter declared a mistrial on the 9 counts for which jurors had been unable to succeed in a unanimous verdict. The D.A.’s workplace stated it had but to succeed in a choice on whether or not to refile these counts.

Heaps, who has denied wrongdoing, was tried on a complete of 21 counts stemming from accusations of sexual abuse towards seven girls from 2009 to 2018.

The Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom jury convicted him of three counts of sexual battery by fraud and two counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious particular person. He was discovered not responsible on three counts of sexual battery by fraud, three counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious particular person and one depend of sexual exploitation of a affected person.

The trial got here to an in depth months after UCLA reached back-to-back agreements earlier this yr to pay a complete of $600 million to settle two intercourse abuse civil lawsuits introduced on behalf of greater than 500 former sufferers of Heaps.

A 3rd civil case, a class-action go well with in federal court docket, was settled by the college for $73 million final yr.

These three settlements collectively fall wanting the file $852 million that the College of Southern California, a non-public establishment, agreed to pay in a case involving greater than 700 girls who stated they had been sexually abused by an ex-USC gynecologist, Dr. George Tyndall.

A separate $215 million settlement of a federal class-action case stemming from Tyndall and a $50 million cluster of particular person state court docket settlements introduced the whole USC payout over the Tyndall scandal to $1.1 billion.

(By Steve Gorman; enhancing by Richard Pullin)