Former University of Southern California gynecologist George Tyndall pleaded not guilty Friday to 27 felony sexual abuse charges. The charges involve 16 patients who visited Tyndall between 2009 and 2016.
Attorney Gloria Allred, who represented some of Tyndall’s alleged victims in a lawsuit against USC, tells KNX News’ Chris Sedens it took so long for the case to get to trial because of the sheer number of charges against him.
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“Some of them were dropped because either the victims didn't want to proceed to testify, or they couldn't contact one of them,” she said. “But right now he is going to be charged with and arraigned on 18 felony counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person … Also, he's charged with sexual battery by fraud.”
Allred clarified that the women – some of whom were as young as 17 years old – weren’t literally unconscious during the assaults. The charge means they were “unconscious of the nature of the act” that occurred.
“[The patients] at many points were not aware of certain things that he was doing, but they felt very uncomfortable,” she said. “In other words, he didn't need to do some of the things that he was doing under the guise of being a professional and conducting a professional examination.”
Allred commended the alleged victims for their courage in coming forward to testify.
“Some of my clients testified in the preliminary hearing. That was not an easy thing to do,” she said. “They've been very courageous in their battle to seek justice.”
In 2021, USC agreed to a $1.1 billion settlement with about 17,000 of Tyndall’s former patients. The university had continued to employ Tyndall for decades despite complaints about inappropriate behavior from colleagues and patients.
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