Prosecutors Reviewing Dozens Of Cases For Possible Sex Crime Charges Against USC Gynecologist
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Los Angeles County district attorney's office is currently reviewing dozens of cases for possible sex-crimes charges against Dr. George Tyndall, a former longtime gynecologist at the University of Southern California who has been accused by hundreds of women of sexual misconduct.
Los Angeles police detectives brought nearly 30 cases to the DA's office for review for possible criminal charges, LAPD Capt. Billy Hayes told The Los Angeles Times Thursday. That number could go up as high as 50, Hayes added.
The 71-year-old Tyndall, who has maintained his innocence, has never been arrested or criminally charged.
"This is the most victims for one perpetrator that I can recall in LAPD history," Hayes told the Times.
Tyndall served as the only full-time gynecologist at the USC Engemann Student Health Center for nearly 30 years. In 2016, the school began investigating him over allegations of improper pelvic exams and making racist and sexually inappropriate remarks. Former colleagues had questioned his methods of pelvic exams, specifically, his practice of digital insertion before using a speculum.
Numerous women have stated Tyndall watched them undress and proceeded to violate them during pelvic exams.
USC didn't terminate Tyndall's employment until June 2017. The L.A. Times had been looking into Tyndall for months prior to the university's acknowledgment in May of this year that the school had been investigating him.
Following the revelation, more than 200 women with misconduct complaints against Tyndall came forward and filed lawsuits against the school, claiming that USC tried to cover up his sexual abuse.
As a result of the scandal, USC President C. L. Max Nikias officially resigned his position earlier this month. Two longtime student health clinic administrators were also fired.
USC has faced several scandals over the past few years.
In April 2016, Carmen Puliafito stepped down as dean of the USC Keck School of Medicine after it was revealed he had partied with underage girls and provided drugs to his girlfriend, who was a prostitute. The California medical board later ordered Puliafito be stripped of his license to practice medicine.
In November 2016, Dr. Rohit Varma, a noted ophthalmologist, was named dean to replace Puliafito. However, in October 2017, he also resigned amid a report that 15 years prior, USC reached a financial settlement with a female researcher who accused him of sexual harassment.
Earlier this month USC revealed that it had hired and fired former California Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas (D-West Los Angeles) as a professor. USC asked the U.S. Attorney's Office to conduct a criminal investigation into a recent suspicious $100,000 donation from a campaign fund controlled by his father, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. The 30-year-old Sebastian Ridley-Thomas was hired by USC as a professor despite not having a graduate degree.
