Doctor’s Bail Reduced in Molestation Case : Attorney for Neurosurgeon Says He Is Victim of Overzealous Prosecution

A Newport Beach neurosurgeon charged with repeatedly molesting a 12-year-old patient over a 5-month period was released on $25,000 bail Wednesday after a defense attorney argued that he was a victim of overzealous prosecutors who had built their case on the word of one troubled girl.

Dr. Francis J. Williams, 64, was released from Orange County Jail after Municipal Judge Glenn A. Mahler reduced bail from $500,000 despite prosecution pleas that Williams was a “danger to the community.”

Williams, who runs a private practice from offices in the 1500 block of Superior Avenue in Newport Beach, stands accused of 10 counts of child molestation involving the 12-year-old daughter of one of his former office aides. Prosecutors said the alleged abuse took place between Jan. 1 and May 31, 1985, when the girl was treated at Williams’ office.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kelly MacEachern said the girl, who has since moved out of California and lives with her parents in Kentucky, had been brought to Williams because it was suspected a neurological disorder was contributing to a learning disability detected at her school. While in Williams’ office, she was told to undress and underwent pelvic examinations without the presence of a nurse, the prosecutor said.

The complaint alleges that Williams “did willfully, unlawfully and lewdly commit a lewd and lascivious act . . . with the intent of arousing, appealing to and gratifying the lust, passions and sexual desires of the said defendant and the said child.”

MacEachern said the abuse came to light during counseling after the girl, now 16, attempted suicide earlier this year.

“In a lot of these cases the victims begin to feel guilty and dirty when they begin to develop a sexual persona,” she said. “This is apparently what happened here.”

MacEachern said that in May, 1985, the girl told her mother about the pelvic examinations but the mother failed to act on the complaints.

After the arrest of Williams on Tuesday morning, police said they confiscated more than 400 videotapes and photographs of patients in Williams’ office and his Corona del Mar home, along with $120,000 in cash and a U.S. passport.

Bob Oakley, a Newport Beach police spokesman, would not describe what is recorded on the tapes. The Times incorrectly quoted Oakley as saying Tuesday that the tapes included pictures of nude patients. In fact, police did not begin their review of the tapes until Wednesday.

Defense attorney Byron K. McMillan said Wednesday there may be some nudity depicted in the videotapes because they represented 20 years of operations and examinations performed by his client.

McMillan said in court that Williams is self-insured and videotaped examinations and surgeries to protect himself from possible malpractice lawsuits.

“Have you ever seen a clothed person on an operating table?” McMillan said. “The tapes of the patients are legitimate operations. Every operation he does is taped.”

He said Williams taped some of his procedures using a miniature video camera strapped to his head. He said that the tapes would show Williams surrounded by nurses and surgical assistants.

McMillan also denied prosecutor’s statements that Williams dealt primarily with young female patients. “Most of them are adults,” McMillan said.

In an afternoon arraignment at Harbor Municipal Court, McMillan called the arrest of Williams “totally irresponsible” and said the evidence would prove his client innocent.

Williams, wearing a gray suit coat and open collar white shirt and occasionally shielding his face from cameras with a sheet of yellow notebook paper, stood impassively as McMillan spoke.

McMillan described Williams, a father of three, as a respected member of the medical community who has practiced in Orange County for more than 20 years and owns a $750,000 home in Corona del Mar. State medical records show Williams received his California physician/surgeon license in 1954.

Tami Parrott, administrator of College Hospital in Costa Mesa, said Williams is an active member of that hospital’s staff.

“I think it is completely irresponsible conduct, scooping this gentleman up on his way to the office,” McMillan said. “This whole case deals with one young lady who was 12 at the time. Everything related to a transaction involving one child 3 years ago.”

According to McMillan, Williams hired the girl’s mother as an office or nurse’s aide as a favor to his preacher.

“They were having a hard time, and he tried to help her,” McMillan said. The girl was under Williams’ care for a learning disability and had been diagnosed by Williams as having a brain cyst, McMillan said.

During one examination, the girl complained of a vaginal discharge, and as a favor to the girl, Williams conducted a routine pelvic examination. McMillan said.

A spokesperson for the state Board of Medical Quality Assurance said Wednesday that Williams has a clean record.

Felix Rodriguez, supervisor of the board’s Santa Ana office, confirmed that the board was looking into the current allegations against Williams. He said board investigators accompanied police when Williams’ home and office were searched. If convicted of the charges, Williams could lose his medical license, Rodriguez said.

F. Louie, chief attorney for the state board in Sacramento, said several issues were raised by the arrest, including whether male physicians should examine female patients alone in an examining room, as prosecutors allege Williams repeatedly did with the young girl.

“There is no such law that requires it,” Louie said, “but it would be a wise discretionary move to have a third party present while examining a female patient. (Molestation) is a very difficult charge for a doctor to disprove. So for his own safety he should have a third party present.”

Louie said that while it may not be common, it was not unusual for a physician or surgeon to perform a routine examination out of his field of specialty, as Williams allegedly did in conducting the pelvic exam on the girl when his specialty is neurosurgery.

“A neurosurgeon is a licensed physician, and he is licensed to practice any medicine under the sun if he is trained to do so,” Louie said.

It is similar to law practice, Louie said. “If you are an expert in criminal law, you are still authorized to draw somebody’s will,” he explained.

As for videotaping surgical procedures and office visits, Louie said some physicians and surgeons do so in order to present medical papers before professional groups.

“If he does it to show to other doctors, I believe he should have the consent of the patient,” he said. “If he records it for his own purpose, then that is another matter.”

Dr. Michael Sukoff, a neurosurgeon at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana and a former president of the Neurological Society of Orange County, said he knows Williams, “and I don’t have anything bad to say about him. He has been an overtly religious person. I was never close with him professionally and socially.”

Sukoff said Williams performed mostly neck and back surgery. He recalled that several years ago Williams told him that he was videotaping surgical procedures to protect himself from malpractice suits.

Several of Williams’ patients called The Times to praise Williams, saying their experiences left them impressed with his medical credentials. Reacting to news reports of Williams’ arrest, Debbie Loseth and Lori Miles said they were stunned by news reports of the arrest and wanted to shed a more positive light on a man they claim has helped cure them.

Loseth, 31, a former Orange resident who now lives in Bullhead City, Ariz., said she was treated by Williams for a herniated spine and headaches after an auto accident 18 months ago.

On her first visit, Loseth said the doctor photographed her fully clothed, explaining that he did this to all patients to “keep their names and conditions straight.” On subsequent visits, she said Williams took photos of her back and spine where she complained of spasms.

“At that point I was partially undressed,” she said in a telephone interview. “But how do you get a good picture otherwise?”

When Williams operated on her spine, Loseth said, he videotaped the procedure.

Another patient, Miles, said she had been under Williams’ treatment for more than 4 years and rarely was examined by the doctor without a nurse present.

Times staff writer Steven R. Churm contributed to this story.