A former Manhattan gynecologist who beforehand evaded jail time for abusing sufferers was convicted on federal expenses of sex trafficking Tuesday, officers mentioned.
A federal jury in Manhattan found 64-year-old Robert Hadden guilty of sexual abuse after a two-week trial throughout which 9 former sufferers shared how the physician attacked them throughout their visits.
“Robert Hadden was a predator in a white coat,” mentioned U.S. Lawyer Damian Williams in an announcement. “For years, he cruelly lured women who sought professional medical care to his offices in order to gratify himself. Hadden’s victims trusted him as a physician, only to instead become victims of his heinous predilection.”
Hadden labored at each Columbia University Irving Medical Middle and New York-Presbyterian Hospital till complaints about his abuse ended his profession a decade in the past. An indictment charged the physician with sexually abusing sufferers between 1993 till at the least 2012. Through the trial, sufferers described how the gynecologist would query them about their private lives and sexual experiences earlier than touching them inappropriately.
Whereas his protection legal professionals contended that Hadden’s guilty plea to expenses in state court docket seven years in the past put these crimes behind him, prosecutors moved ahead with federal expenses after arguing that Hadden enticed girls to cross state strains so he might assault them.
Marissa Hoechstetter was one of Hadden’s victims. In an announcement, she mentioned she hoped the decision would carry “healing, better patient protections, a broader understanding of the impact of trauma, and finally, a measure of real accountability.”
“The delivery of justice in the case of the U.S. v Robert Hadden is because of the strong and clear voices of many women and the exceptional work of the SDNY AUSAs [assistant U.S. attorneys for the Southern District of New York] and FBI. Today’s verdict does not undo the harm that Hadden and his employers caused hundreds of women and girls over decades. But it does send a strong message that what happened was wrong and that survivors’ voices do matter.”
Evelyn Yang, whose husband Andrew Yang ran unsuccessfully for president in 2020 and New York Metropolis mayor in 2022, was additionally amongst Hadden’s former sufferers who’ve spoken out about his abuse.
“We thank and commend the brave women who came forward to tell their stories, many of whom testified at trial, to end his yearslong cycle of abuse,” Williams mentioned.