Seattle, WA: A Federal Way chiropractor alleged to have sexually assaulted three patients now faces a criminal charge in one purported groping.
More than two years after the first woman went to authorities, King County prosecutors have a chiropractor with indecent liberties, a felony sex offense.
The chiropractor has been charged with groping one patient in September 2010. At least three other former patients have filed complaints against him with the state Department of Health; two of those complaints have been detailed publicly.
The charges against the chiropractor filed earlier this month stem from a complaint by a 51-year-old woman alleged to have been groped b at his office.
The woman initially went to police and Department of Health authorities shortly after the September 2010 incident. Her complaint was at first rejected by a state disciplinary board, a board that reversed itself after two other women came forward with complaints.
Writing the court, a Federal Way detective said the initial complainant met with Summers at the chiropractor’s office. The D.C. is alleged to have reached up the woman’s shirt and fondled her breasts during the visit.
Concerned by the chiropractor’s behavior, the woman filed a complaint with the Department of Health later that day. She contacted police a week later.
Department of Health investigators reviewed the woman’s complaint and in January 2011 submitted their findings to the Chiropractic Quality Assurance Commission, an oversight board comprised primarily of licensed chiropractors.
The board found the evidence presented by investigators did not support a finding and did not take any action against the chiropractor, a Department of Health spokeswoman said Tuesday. The Chiropractor was allowed to continue his practice until November, when the board suspended his license after receiving additional information from the woman and two other purported victims.
The allegations now made against Summers through the state process are more severe than those currently offered by King County prosecutors.
In addition to the first woman’s claims, Department of Health investigators detailed two other former patients’ complaints in their report to the chiropractic board. A fourth patient has also complained to the Department of Health about Summers.
According to documents filed by the state, one of the more recent patients claimed Summers touched her crotch and offered himself as a sexual teaching tool. A third woman claimed Summers touched her inappropriately after offering to massage her internally.
The complaints against Summers were not made public until November, two years after the woman’s initial complaint that Summers had groped her. Summers’ medical license has been suspended by the chiropractic board.
Summers was charged Friday with indecent liberties. He has not been jailed in the case.
Source: SeattlePI.com