SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – The former Chief of the Cardiology Section at the VA Hospital in Palo Alto was sentenced to eight months in prison for sexual abuse of an employee on Tuesday.
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John Giacomini, 73, of Atherton, pled guilty to a charge of felony abusive sexual contact in March.
Giacomini practiced medicine and cardiology for over 30 years, and from 1985 until 2018 he was the Chief of Cardiology at the Palo Alto VA hospital.
It was in the fall of 2017 that he began to harass a subordinate doctor at the hospital, subjecting her to unwanted and unwelcome sexual contact, including "hugging, kissing, and intimate touching while on VA premises," according to a Tuesday release by the U.S. Attorney's Office Northern District of California.
In November of 2017, the victim refused his advances, but despite this, he continued to harass her physically. This led to a meeting on December 20, 2017, when Giacomini "aggressively groped her breasts, buttocks, and vagina during a meeting in her office," according to the release.
The victim resigned from her post and called out Giacomini as the reason.
She spoke out at the sentencing on Tuesday about the impact his conduct had on her.
"I felt overwhelming disappointment that my chief and former mentor who I trusted would abuse his position like that. During that period at the VA, I felt a myriad of emotions, from fear to helplessness to disgust to anger and finally sadness," she said, according to the release.
She said she came forward to help ensure this didn't happen to any other female doctors in her position.
Due to the circumstances, including the extreme behavior exhibited by Giacomini and the victim’s bravery, the judge decided to hand down a prison sentence instead of something more lenient. Giacomini will also have to serve one year of supervised release, pay a fine of $15,000, and pay mandatory special assessment fees as well as the prison term.
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