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A disgraced University of Los Angeles, California gynecologist was sentenced to more than a decade behind bars this week for sexually abusing patients.
Dr. James Heaps, 66 — who was convicted last year of three counts of sexual battery by fraud and two counts of sexual penetration of two patients was ordered Wednesday April 26 to serve 11 years in prison, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Following his release, Heaps will also be required to register as a sex offender, the outlet said.
A former member of UCLA hospital highest-paid employees, Heaps was arrested in 2019 based on allegations from several patients that he groped them, made lewd comments, and performed needlessly invasive examinations.
It was also found that complaints about Heaps’ behavior previously went unaddressed until late 2017 when a formal investigation was initiated by the university’s Title IX office, the newspaper reported.
Heaps who treated more than 6,000 patients throughout his career was allowed to continue practicing until June 2018, when UCLA declined to renew his contract and brought the allegations to police.
After his arrest in 2019, Heaps was charged with 21 felonies involving the sexual assaults of seven women between 2009 and 2018. The jury ultimately found him not guilty of seven of the counts.
Hundreds of his victims also sued UCLA for allegedly ignoring their complaints and stifling rumors of Heaps’ abuse at the student health center, the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, and his campus office.
The university ultimately paid nearly $700 million to over 300 victims.
Heaps appeared in court Wednesday in an orange jumpsuit. He did not address the court after his sentence was read.
“Today we finally have a reason to smile. I hope that the settlement by UCLA and today’s sentencing will encourage any victims of sexual assault to come forward,” one of the plaintiffs, Ellen Carter, told the LA Times after the proceedings.
“Now the healing can begin.”
