SAN FRANCISCO—On August 31, District Attorney Kamala D. Harris announced that a doctor accused of sexually assaulting patients was sentenced.

The defendant, 56-year-old San Francisco resident Jose Rosas, was sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison for sexually assaulting three women by use of “genital penetration of the genital and/or anal opening of numerous female patients,” according to the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.  The victims at the time were reportedly unaware of the essential nature of the doctor’s actions.

Rosas was taken into custody on June 7, 2005.  A general practitioner in private practice, the defendant serviced mainly Spanish-speaking patients. His female victims, who knew limited English, sought Rosas’s services because they knew he was a Spanish-speaking doctor from Peru.  The victims wanted medical advice for conditions that did not require pelvic examinations; however, Rosas told the women that pelvic examinations were required for diagnosis reasons. The victims allowed the defendant to perform the examinations, which were considered inappropriate because Rosas was found to digitally penetrate the patients for longer than necessary, according to the District Attorney.

“Jose Rosas used his position as a doctor to abuse his victims,” Harris stated in a press release.  “This sentence sends an important message to all that abuse a position of trust.”