On Thursday, a Los Angeles court found a former doctor at the University of California, Los Angeles guilty on five charges of sexual abuse. Dr. James Heaps was found not guilty on seven of the 21 allegations, and the jury was deadlocked on the other charges.
Longtime UCLA campus doctor Heaps pled not guilty to 21 felony counts related to the sexual assaults of seven women between 2009 and 2018. He has disputed his guilt.
Last year, Heaps was indicted on several counts of sexual battery by fraud, sexual exploitation of a patient, and sexual penetration of an unconscious individual by deceptive representation.
During his 35-year career, hundreds of Heaps’ patients alleged that he inappropriately touched them, made provocative remarks, or conducted overly invasive tests. UCLA has agreed to pay roughly $700 million in lawsuit settlements to these patients.
Women who filed the cases allege that the university ignored their concerns and covered abuse that occurred over decades at the UCLA student health center, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, and Heaps’ campus office.
Attorneys claim UCLA confirmed receiving a sex abuse complaint against Heaps from a patient in December 2017 and conducting an investigation the following month that determined she was sexually assaulted and harassed.
Despite the scandal, Heaps continued to practice until his retirement in June 2018. The university did not share its investigation findings until November 2019, which was months after Heaps’ arrest.
Thursday, neither Heaps’ attorney nor UCLA immediately responded to requests for comment.
The conviction comes as the former campus gynecologist at the University of Southern California awaits sexual assault charges. USC agreed to pay over $1 billion to resolve lawsuits filed by hundreds of former patients of former campus gynecologist George Tyndall, the highest compensation for sexual abuse in the history of higher education. Until 2016, Tyndall was the sole full-time gynecologist at the student health center at the University of Southern California. He has entered not guilty pleas to a multitude of sexual assault allegations.
In May of 2018, former USC president Max Nikias resigned due to this incident.