A prominent New York doctor is facing a federal, four-count indictment after he was accused of sexually assaulting multiple patients, including minors, for more than five years beginning in 2015.
New York authorities arrested Dr. Darius Paduch, a 55-year-old former urologist at the New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center, on Tuesday morning.
Paduch is charged with two counts of inducement of a person to travel to engage in unlawful sexual activity and two counts of inducement of a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity "for his yearslong [sic] sexual abuse of two victims who were his patients and who were minors during part of the period of abuse," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced Tuesday.
"As alleged, for years, Darius Paduch abused the trust of patients, including minors, who saw him for sensitive medical problems. Paduch took advantage of his victims for his own deviant satisfaction. Thanks to this morning’s arrest, Paduch’s abuse of his patients ends today," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
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Paduch allegedly sexually assaulted multiple male victims, including the two minors mentioned in the indictments, while performing urological exams between 2015 and 2019. At the time, Paduch was employed as a doctor at the prestigious Weill Cornell Medicine.
PCVA Law in Washington has filed lawsuits on behalf of two dozen victims — both children and adults — accusing Paduch of sexual assault, attorney Mallory Allen told Fox News Digital.
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"Our clients feel very relieved that he was arrested. Many of them feel vindicated. They thought they were the only ones who had been abused by him," she said. "We're talking about someone who preyed on people seeking medical care in [the] most vulnerable positions these people had probably ever been in, in their lives, seeking care for very personal, intimate issues."
The Weill Cornell Medicine told Fox News Digital in a statement that the medical center "values the care and safety" of its patients "above all else" and is "taking these disturbing allegations very seriously."
"Cornell’s Office of General Counsel has engaged outside counsel to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the behavior of former WCM faculty member Dr. Paduch and the circumstances surrounding the allegations," Weill Cornell said.
In 2019, Paduch, who treated conditions ranging from erectile and sexual dysfunction to testosterone imbalance, continued his alleged sexual abuse crimes while employed at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, according to allegations in the Tuesday indictment.
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The doctor allegedly used his professional status to falsely convince patients that the abuse he inflicted upon them was medically necessary or appropriate. He would also allegedly text his patients to schedule follow-up appointments and often made sexual jokes or comments, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
"The indictment unsealed today against Paduch, a New York-area doctor, details alleged systemic abuse of a number of patients, to include minors, over the course of several years," FBI Assistant Director Michael J. Driscoll said in a statement. "Sexual abuse of anyone at any age for any reason is a horrific crime that carries strict penalties."
The first lawsuit filed by PCVA Law in December 2022 alleges that Paduch sexually assaulted a minor victim — his 16-year-old intern, as The New York Post first reported — between 2015 and 2017 at New York-Presbyterian.
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"Defendant Dr. Darius Paduch to use his position as its agent and employee to sexually abuse and exploit Plaintiff in multiple ways, including exposing Plaintiff to gay pornography; convincing Plaintiff that his ‘medical treatment’ required defendant Dr. Darius Paduch to practice giving Plaintiff erections; fondling Plaintiff’s penis; masturbating Plaintiff; and demanding that Plaintiff personally text and send him videos of himself masturbating," the lawsuit states.
READ THE INDICTMENT:
PCVA Law filed four more lawsuits against Paduch after the first allegations became public.
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Authorities are asking anyone who have been "victimized by Darius Paduch in any way or have any additional information about his alleged illegal behavior" to call 1-800-CALL-FBI or reach out to them at www.tips.fbi.gov.