Famed Columbia University Ob-Gyn Dr. Robert Hadden was arrested in 2012 for licking a patient’s vagina, but prosecutors didn’t press charges, so Dr. Hadden went back to work. In the following weeks, he allegedly assaulted two more women, including Evelyn Yang, wife of former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, reports CNN.
Dr. Hadden took a plea deal and was able to register as the lowest-level sex offender. He was given no prison sentence, no probation, and no community service.
From CNN:
This defied the recommendation of the State of New York Board of Examiners of Sex Offenders to label Hadden a Level 2 — or moderate — offender, which would require his inclusion in an online sex-offender registry for life.
Elie Honig, a former federal and state prosecutor and a CNN legal analyst, called the 2016 agreement “inexplicable.”
“I cannot think of any legitimate reason why you would give this guy a plea deal that would not put him behind bars for one day,” he said. “It is unjust.”
Since Yang went public with the assault, Dr. Hadden had been accused by 42 more women of sexual assault. Unfortunately, Dr. Hadden’s plea deal includes a stipulation that the New York district attorney can’t prosecute him for any of the 19 “similar crimes” the DA knew about.
Manhattan’s DA refused to speak with CNN.
Image: CNN