Robert Hadden: Gynaecologist faces federal charges over six sexual abuse accusations

Hadden is accused of assaulting pregnant, married, non-married and minor patients

It is thought the former medical practitioner abused patients for over two decades (YouTube/CNN)

A Manhattan gynecologist accused by the wife of former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang of sexually assaulting her now faces federal charges related to the sexual abuse of women, according to a new indictment unsealed on Wednesday.

Robert A Hadden, who has lost his medical license, was charged with six counts of enticing and inducing women, including one minor, to travel to his offices from other states to engage in illegal sex acts.

The indictment says that over nearly two decades, Hadden “sexually abused dozens of female patients, including multiple minors, under the guise of conducting purported gynaecological and obstetric examinations” at his medical office and at hospitals in Manhattan.

“Hadden acted as a predator in a white coat,” said Audrey Strauss, the acting US attorney in Manhattan, who announced the charges at a news conference.

Ms Strauss said Hadden formerly worked as an obstetrician-gynaecologist at a Columbia University medical practice and also was on the staff of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. She said he targeted victims who were young or had little experience with gynaecological examinations.

For many of his victims, Ms Strauss said, Hadden was their first gynaecologist, and for others, he was their doctor for their first pregnancy.

In one case, Ms Strauss said, Hadden intentionally sought out and abused a young girl whom he himself had delivered as a baby.

“He treated many young women who had no understanding of what to expect, what was normal and what was not,” William Sweeney Jr, the head of the FBI’s New York office, said at the news conference.

Mr Sweeney said Hadden used grooming, a tactic employed by many sexual predators.

“He would share details of his life and ask for the same of his patients, developing a rapport that likely made his victims feel that they could trust him,” Mr Sweeney said. “He abused that trust completely.”

According to the indictment, many of Hadden’s victims continued seeing him, sometimes for years, before realising his examinations were inappropriate, medically unnecessary and sexually abusive.

In some cases, he offered them free birth control to entice them to return for appointments, the indictment said.

In the case of the victim he had delivered as a baby, as she approached and reached puberty, the indictment said, Hadden repeatedly encouraged her parent to bring her in for appointments. During multiple appointments, he conducted breast exams during which he groped her breasts and pinched her nipples, among other sexually abusive acts, the indictment charged.

The indictment also accused Hadden of touching other victims’ breasts, nipples, buttocks and genitals, and on multiple occasions, while he conducted a pelvic exam, he licked victims’ vaginas, it said.

The six specific victims whose cases are described in the indictment — identified only by numbers — do not include Evelyn Yang, the former candidate’s wife, she said in a text message.

Ms Yang told CNN in January that Hadden sexually assaulted her in his exam room in 2012, when she was seven months pregnant with her first child.

In the CNN interview, Ms Yang said she was dressed and ready to leave when Hadden “proceeded to grab me over to him and undress me and examine me internally, ungloved”.

“I just kind of froze like a deer in headlights, just frozen. I knew it was happening. I could feel it,” Ms Yang said. “I remember trying to fix my eyes on a spot on the wall and just trying to avoid seeing his face as he was assaulting me, just waiting for it to be over.”

In a statement on Wednesday, Ms Yang thanked prosecutors for bringing the charges, calling them “long overdue”.

She added: “I hope that this action leads institutions like the hospital Dr Hadden worked at for decades to take complaints of assault and abuse seriously and immediately as opposed to ignoring them or brushing them under a rug for years.”

Columbia and NewYork-Presbyterian each said in statements that they would cooperate fully with prosecutors. “Nothing is more important to Columbia than the safety of our patients, and we condemn sexual misconduct in any form,” the Columbia statement said.

“The trust that patients place in their physicians is sacred,” NewYork-Presbyterian said in its statement. “Hadden’s abhorrent actions violated that sacred trust and damaged women’s lives.”

Isabelle Kirshner, a lawyer for Hadden, declined to comment.

Hadden pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Wednesday evening. Prosecutors, offering written statements from five victims and an oral presentation from a sixth, argued vigorously for pretrial detention.

“He has assaulted single women, married women, pregnant women, recent mothers and minors,” one woman, identified only as Jane Doe 4, said in a statement read aloud by a prosecutor. “He has demonstrated no regard for age, race — and more importantly — the dignity and personal autonomy of women. He should not be granted bail.”

A magistrate judge released Hadden on $1m (£768,685) bond into home detention with GPS monitoring.

Hadden has been under a separate investigation by the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr, who has been sharply criticised for allowing Hadden to avoid jail in a 2016 plea deal after he had been accused of sexual abuse by 19 patients.

Under the deal, Hadden surrendered his medical license and pleaded guilty to a single felony charge of criminal sexual act in the third degree and one misdemeanor charge of forcible touching.

Mr Vance’s office said in February that it had opened an investigation into new abuse allegations against Hadden, who lives in Englewood, New Jersey.

In a statement on Wednesday, Mr Vance’s office said it had provided substantial assistance to the federal authorities leading up to the new indictment.

Mr Vance’s office added that its own investigation, which also “examines potential failures by Dr Hadden’s employer and hospital to disclose additional incidents of abuse to our office and to regulators when required, is intensely active and ongoing”.

More than 100 women have now accused Hadden of sexually abusing them, according to Anthony DiPietro, a lawyer who has sued Hadden, Columbia and NewYork-Presbyterian on their behalf.

New York Times