New Lawsuits Allege Former UCLA Doctor Sexually Abused 9 Women

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WESTWOOD (CBSLA) — Nine more women filed lawsuits Tuesday alleging a former gynecologist at the University of California Los Angeles sexually abused and assaulted them under the guise of performing legitimate medical treatments.

The first of the two lawsuits against Dr. James Heaps, 62, was filed on behalf of three women who were UCLA students at the time of the alleged assaults. The second lawsuit was filed on behalf of six other women who were non-student patients at the UCLA Medical Center.

The women allege that between the years of 1989 and 2017, Heaps abused them by groping and fondling their breasts and inappropriately touching them while conducting examinations.

Heaps is facing criminal charges of sexually bettering two unidentified patients in 2017 and 2018 at UCLA Health. He pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual battery by fraud and one count of sexual exploitation of a patient.

The University of California Board of Regents paid $2.25 million to a woman who alleged Heaps sexually assaulted her while he was practicing at UCLA. The board also paid $1.3 million to a nurse-practitioner at UCLA who alleged sexual harassment and retaliation for her participation in an internal investigations of Heaps' misconduct.

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