Filipino doctor accused of sexual assault in U.S. gets probation
A Filipino doctor charged with sexually assaulting his 53-year-old male patient in a US hospital was placed under a special probation program on Tuesday, December 19, a report said.
A US judge granted Louie Mar Gangcuangco’s request for accelerated rehabilitation, a pretrial program for people accused of nonviolent crimes.
The Connecticut Post reported that Gangcuangco did not plead guilty to 4th-degree sexual assault charges against him.
With the one-year probation, there’s a chance for Gangcuangco’s original charge to be dismissed if he does not get rearrested during the probationary period.
According to the police, Gangcuangco was accused in 2016 of sexually assaulting a patient who went to get a heart exam at the Bridgeport Hospital.
Gangcuangco, who worked as a physician at the hospital, allegedly grabbed the patient’s genitals and pinched his nipples, then later on called him up to invite him for dinner.
Both the case’s prosecutor and the victim did not oppose Gangcuangco’s probation program.
“I’m just not convinced he is remorseful,” the Connecticut Post quoted the victim as saying during the hearing.
He added, “He had no permission, he shouldn’t have done it and I just hope he doesn’t do it again.”
Gangcuangco’s lawyer Sean Barrett said the doctor lost his job at Bridgeport Hospital because of the charges against him. He is set to return to the Philippines after his visa expired.
‘Not guilty’
In a statement sent to Rappler, Gangcuangco reiterated that he’s not guilty of the crime he was “maliciously” accused of.
According to him, it was a busy day in the hospital when the incident happened and that there “were at least 15 people at any one time at the medical clinic.”
Gangcuangco said he had to perform a full physical exam on the patient who was “due for a yearly check-up and had abnormal lab results that needed a groin exam.” He added that the patient consented to the examination and even scheduled a follow-up appointment with him after 3 months.
A week after the check-up, however, the patient allegedly started harassing Gangcuangco on the phone.
Statement by Rappler on Scribd
Gangcuangco said he had wanted an “outright dismissal” of the charges against him, but without much of a choice, he agreed to the probation program while maintaining his non-guilty plea.
The doctor also alleged that the patient “had an extensive criminal history of violent crimes, including multiple counts of murder,” and that the latter wanted “hundreds of thousands of dollars to let the case go.”
“Because of my silence, I had been painted to be the villain in this story; but in reality, I am the victim here,” said Gangcuangco. – Rappler.com
