Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Family Doctor Faces 9 Creepy Sex Abuse Allegations

Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. That was Dr. Edsel Sandoval talking about his work in a video on YouTube. Now he's accused of committing sex crimes on the job. They were patients of his. It's a very personal matter, especially when you're going to a doctor. I lay out nine disturbing allegations made against Edsel Sandoval. Thanks for joining me for Crime Fix.

Starting point is 00:00:35 I'm Anjanette Levy. Dr. Edsel Sandoval faces 20 sex crimes charges. They include attempted sexual abuse, sexual assault, and assault with sexual motivation. The assault with sexual motivation charge is actually a misdemeanor. The remaining counts are all felonies. The indictment claims that Sandoval committed these acts between October of 2020 and May of 2023 while he was a doctor at Yuma Regional Medical Center in Yuma, Arizona. The investigation began in the summer of last year in Yuma, which is near the U.S. border with Mexico.

Starting point is 00:01:11 Police in Yuma put out information about Sandoval and more patients came forward, accusing him of sex crimes. In this video posted on YouTube, Dr. Sandoval is speaking in Spanish. He says, quote, I see it this way. For the patients, there will never be a way in which a patient is made to feel lesser than. And later on in the video, he says, the medical care that you deserve is what you will be given. The indictment mentions the allegations just briefly. For example, in November of 2022, a woman claimed that Sandoval groped her breasts. In February of 2023, another woman said Sandoval,

Starting point is 00:01:54 quote, massaged butt cheeks. Yes, these are all words written in the indictment. In May of 2023, a sexual abuse charge accuses Sandoval of, quote, unrecorded breast exam. An attempted sexual abuse count the same month accuses Sandoval of, quote, massaging butt. That same month, another woman claimed Sandoval, quote, fondled nipple piercing. In 2022, a woman said Sandoval, quote, insisted on checking her breasts. Now, one of the patients claims that Sandoval assaulted her on different occasions in 2022, beginning in April. A second indictment charging Sandoval with sexual assault in April of that same year claimed that Sandoval penetrated the woman. That patient said on the same day that Sandoval had contact with her anus.

Starting point is 00:02:49 And then eight days later, the same patient said Sandoval penetrated her again. Then in October, Sandoval is accused of touching the woman's private parts. The following month in November, another woman said Sandoval sexually abused her during a pap smear. That's a routine cervical exam that doctors perform on women. Sandoval was indicted last month and he has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Now, I'll tell you what Yuma Regional Medical Center had to say about the charges in a bit, but first, I spoke with Sergeant Lori Franklin of the Yuma Police Department about the case and the investigation. Sergeant Franklin, what can you tell us about Edsel Sandoval and the charges he

Starting point is 00:03:25 faces? So it was first brought to our attention last summer around July. First victim came forward alleging sexual assault type charges from the doctor. And while we were looking into it, two more victims came forward during that time. Evidence probable cause, he wound up being arrested in February. We put out a press release in reference to the charges. And then since then, we've had eight more victims come forward, reference it. Same type of issues. The victims at the times ranged from like 18 to in their 60s. So quite a range of ages and they were all female. How unusual is this? I mean, have you seen this in Yuma before with a doctor accused of abusing patients that he's entrusted with caring for?

Starting point is 00:04:27 We have had it happen before. It's not a normal thing. It doesn't happen all the time. We had another one where it was a male nurse that we had issues with. But again, I don't want to say it's extremely rare, but it is kind of rare for us. We don't get it all the time. Do you believe there are more accusers or alleged victims out there? There may be. There's no way to tell whether there is or there isn't. But what we would like to do to put the information out is if you believe that you are a victim. You know, something like this is a very personal thing.

Starting point is 00:05:04 You know, for especially a female to go to a male doctor. I mean, this is somebody that, you know, they're taking care of you and it's a personal thing. So for women to come forward when some sort of sexual assault type thing happens, it's very personal, very hard for them to come forward. So we tell people that if you think you may be a victim, if you're not ready to talk to law enforcement yet, we have a victim's advocacy center called Amberley's Place, and they can go there, talk to them first, you know, go through an interview with them. And then if, and when they're ready to come to law enforcement, you know, to file the report. Like I said, it's a very personal thing for people to have to disclose and it's very personal to them. Let's take just a really quick break from this

Starting point is 00:05:49 story about Dr. Edsel Sandoval so I can tell you about something that could help keep you and your family safe. It's a great website and it's called truthfinder.com. Truthfinder is one of the world's largest public record search services. Truthfinder has just one goal, and that is to help you and me learn the truth about the people we meet each day. Here's how it works. Log on to truthfinder.com and put in a name. Within minutes, maybe even seconds, you will get reports that include phone numbers, addresses, friends, family, criminal records, and a lot more. It will also show you sex offender statuses for the people who live in your neighborhood. I actually use this site all the time. It's absolutely great. The cases I cover each day make it very clear that you have to do everything you can to keep

Starting point is 00:06:34 you and your loved ones safe. So right now, Crime Fix viewers can get 50% off of confidential background reports at truthfinder.com slash lccrimefix. Log on to truthfinder.com slash lccrimefix and start accessing information about almost anyone. Now, legally speaking, these are all allegations at this point, but female patients have obviously come forward saying that they were abused or assaulted by Dr. Sandoval. He's pleaded not guilty. But think about it. You go to a doctor and you're there in a vulnerable position. You may be in a medical gown or one of those paper blankets, and you trust that your doctor

Starting point is 00:07:13 is going to do things to examine you, especially if a doctor also provides gynecological care, which some primary care physicians actually do. Many times, if a male doctor is treating a female patient, they'll have a female nurse in the room with them because it makes the patient feel more comfortable. I know I've experienced that, and we don't know if that happened in these cases. It would be really frightening if these things indeed happened and a patient might even question herself about what happened. You're putting all your trust in this doctor and, you know, it's unfortunate, but sometimes, you know, they take advantage of it. And

Starting point is 00:07:49 again, it's still an open investigation. These are charges that are put forward that, you know, still have to go through the court systems. But like I said, if somebody is a victim, we want them to be able to be comfortable enough to come to us. So if you can't, you don't believe that you can come talk to a detective right now, at least go talk to a victim advocacy center and, you know, go through it with them and see how comfortable you are. And, you know, again, when when they're ready to come to us, then we want them to come in and report. Now, everything that I've talked about, the allegations about the specific acts, has come straight from the indictment. So these are direct quotes from the accusers. One woman claimed that Sandoval, quote, straddled her butt. Sandoval had posted photos of himself with colleagues on social media. He just looks like another doctor with his co-workers. But prosecutors and former patients say he was violating his oath and his duty to his

Starting point is 00:08:46 patients and violating their trust. A LinkedIn post by Yuma Regional Medical Center raved about Dr. Sandoval and included a patient review. Quote, Dr. Edsel Sandoval is a third-generation physician and a graduate of YRMC's Family and Community Medicine Residency Program. After completing his residency, he decided to stay in Yuma and give back to his community. As a family medicine provider, he is certainly making an impact on his patients. Here's what one patient had to say about Dr. Sandoval. Quote, Dr. Sandoval is an outstanding physician. Not only is his expertise above the norm, his empathy and bedside manners are exceptional. I would highly recommend this physician to anyone seeking a family physician. The hospital described Dr. Sandoval as a third-generation physician who decided to stay

Starting point is 00:09:38 in Yuma after establishing strong bonds during his residency. And you might be wondering what Yuma Medical Center has to say about these charges. The president and CEO issued the following statement. The safety and well-being of patients is a responsibility we take very seriously. YRMC investigates all patient complaints and feedback, and we do not condone behavior that jeopardizes the trust of patients. Dr. Edsel Sandoval departed from the organization in July of 2023, where he served as a family medicine physician. I want to assure our community and patients that our team is deeply devoted to providing

Starting point is 00:10:15 excellent, safe care. YRMC employs thousands of dedicated individuals who serve with the highest level of integrity and professionalism. We will not tolerate the unacceptable behavior of any individual who compromises the confidence of patients. That's what the hospital had to say about the allegations. Here's what Sergeant Franklin had to say about the hospital and Sandoval's colleagues. Everybody that he's worked with, as far as that goes, they have cooperated with us. So again, when it comes to the clinic that he worked for, it's not the clinic's fault itself. It's the individual person who does the or allegedly did the act. So the clinic itself is not to blame for what happened.

Starting point is 00:11:02 Did Dr. Sandoval ever speak with law enforcement or did law enforcement ever make an effort to speak with him? He has been interviewed. That's part of the process is going through an interview type thing. Again, what was said, I don't know. It is still an active investigation. It's always going to be an active investigation until it goes through the court system. Now, it would be interesting to know what Dr. Sandoval said to law enforcement, if anything, about the allegations. Typically, law enforcement won't reveal that information until trial unless it's included

Starting point is 00:11:32 in some other court documents, and it's certainly not included in the indictment. The investigation is ongoing and certainly active. Sergeant Franklin had advice for anyone who might feel embarrassed about contacting law enforcement if they feel they may have been victimized by Dr. Sandoval or anyone else for that matter. It's a very personal matter, especially when you're going to a doctor or whatever professional you're going to. But sexual abuse or assault in nature, it's a very personal to females, especially to females, but also can be to a male if it's happening to them, you know, but go seek somebody to talk to

Starting point is 00:12:13 if you think that that's happened to you. And if it's not law enforcement first, go find an advocacy center to get comfortable with talking about what happened to you. And then if you can, then seek a case report to see if it's something that needs to be reported. So to wrap things up, Edsel Sandoval, he's 36 years old. He's about to turn 37. He faces a number of sex crimes charges. The allegations involve 11 women ranging in age from 18 to their 60s. Sandoval's medical license is suspended. He wouldn't be allowed to practice medicine right now as this case moves forward. He's free on bail, and he's scheduled to be back in court in June. That's next month. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Family Doctor Faces 9 Creepy Sex Abuse Allegations

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Family Doctor Faces 9 Creepy Sex Abuse Allegations

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