TUCSON, Ariz.—Pima County Attorney Laura Conover is releasing the following statement in response to recent news coverage regarding a high-profile case.
“Protecting vulnerable victims from abuse is one of the highest orders and honors of this office. Our highly experienced veteran team of special victims’ prosecutors ensured that the plea agreement would protect our community from this individual ever serving in the medical profession again. Under the agreement, he may have served five months less in the county jail, but in exchange, we got a lifetime of community protection.”
Listed below are emailed communications between PCAO and the KOLD reporter prior to airing the story:
“Had we taken the case to trial, there are many different ways the judge could have approached prison time. But at the end of the day, this man’s minimum sentence available even if guilty of everything at trial was 6 months, as discussed. Even if a judge had doubled that or even given as much as 2 years, which we have never seen in recent years on a case involving abusive touching to a breast, then the man would have been completely free with no agreements thereafter. Once again, we traded 1 month for 6 months and negotiated a complete withdrawal from the medical field altogether to protect future patients for years to come.”
Pima County Attorney’s Office- Tuesday, 23 June 2026 15:46:11
“The defendant in question will be incarcerated, then he will be supervised, and he will live with the conviction of a sex offender who harmed his own medical patient. In court, he promised in writing and to a state court Judge that he would never work in the medical field again and has already complied by giving up his certifications. Under the KOLD hypothetical, this defendant would have to attempt to appear before the Nursing Board, declare that he lied in court to a judge about giving up his medical career, but that he should be believed now (some future years later,) by the Board that although he was convicted of sexually abusing a patient, they should let him start his medical education and training all over to try to get new certifications. Although the Board doesn’t even usually allow for hearings like that, if we imagined they ever would, both the Pima County Attorney’s Office and the victim’s family would appear to give the Board the public safety concerns.”
Pima County Attorney’s Office- Thursday, 25 June 2026 11:42:19
Under the guidelines of Arizona state law, this is a Class 5 Felony, which is the highest charge we could have gotten in the case.
The Pima County Attorney’s Office is committed to restorative justice, transparency, and accountability as the focus of a mission that also seeks alternatives to incarceration when appropriate, provides support for victims, and strives to be inclusive and equitable to all segments of the communities we serve in the pursuit of public safety and well-being.
Media Contact: Shawndrea Thomas
Director of Communications
Pima County Attorney’s Office
(520) 724-5738 (Office)
(520) 310-4720 (Mobile)
Shawndrea.Thomas@pcao.pima.gov
