More Charges

From MyNewsLA: An obstetrician-gynecologist formerly employed by UCLA now faces a total of 20 felony counts charging him with sexually assaulting seven patients between 2011 and 2018, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday. Dr. James Mason Heaps, 63, of Woodland Hills, initially faced charges involving two alleged victims. He pleaded not guilty to the newly filed charges Monday and was taken into custody and ordered to return to court on Sept. 15, when a date is expected to be set for a preliminary hearing. Bail was set at $650,000, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Heaps was charged last year with two counts of sexual battery by fraud and one count of sexual exploitation of patients, to which he also pleaded not guilty. The criminal complaint was amended to add eight additional counts of sexual battery by fraud, two additional counts of sexual exploitation of a patient and seven counts of sexual penetration of a person unconscious of the nature of the act by fraudulent representation. If convicted as charged, Heaps faces a possible maximum sentence of more than 67 years in prison.

The university previously confirmed that Heaps worked part-time from 1983 to 2010 at UCLA’s student health center before being hired in 2014 by UCLA Health and held medical staff privileges at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center from 1988 to 2018...

Full story at https://mynewsla.com/crime/2020/08/03/more-sexual-assault-charges-filed-against-former-ucla-ob-gyn-2/

NOTE: If you are unfamiliar with the case and its history, use the search engine for this blog and search for "Heaps" for earlier posts.