A former gynecologist who worked on-campus at the University of California, Los Angeles has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for sexually assaulting some of his patients.
James Heaps, 66, was sentenced Wednesday after being convicted in October of five charges involving former patients -- including three counts of sexual battery by fraud and two counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person.
"The trauma Dr. Heaps inflicted on the very people he had sworn to care for is immeasurable," District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement following Heaps' conviction.
The sexual misconduct by Heaps, who treated thousands of patients over his 35-year career at UCLA, took place from 2009 to 2018. Heaps initially was charged in 2019 and indicted by a grand jury in 2021.
The original trial listed 21 counts involving seven patients, KABC-TV reported. However, Heaps was acquitted of several charges after a jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on three counts of sexual battery by fraud, four counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person and two counts of sexual exploitation of a patient. The jury was also deadlocked on the remaining charges.
"While we respect the jurors' decisions on the acquitted counts, we are obviously disappointed," Gascón said in October. "I know how challenging such trials can be for all involved and the personal sacrifices that are made so that justice is served."
More than 300 patients subsequently filed a lawsuit against the university, alleging the school ignored complaints of the doctor groping them, making suggestive comments and conducting unnecessarily invasive exams.
"Women who brought the lawsuits said the university ignored their complaints and deliberately concealed abuse that happened for decades during examinations at the UCLA student health center, the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center or in Heaps' campus office," USA Today reported.
The university eventually settled the lawsuit for nearly $700 million -- the largest payout by a public university in a wave of sexual misconduct scandals by campus doctors, according to the Associated Press.
Heaps, who has denied any wrongdoing, is reportedly planning to appeal the sentence.
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