Doctor Accused of Sexual Assaults Pleads Not Guilty

A West Los Angeles orthopedic surgeon arrested in his office on charges of sexually assaulting three women patients pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles Municipal Court on Friday and was ordered held on $500,000 bail.

Dr. Yahya Lavi, 52, was taken into custody at a private medical clinic at 11633 San Vicente Blvd. and booked at Parker Center Jail late Thursday night on 12 felony counts, ranging from sexual battery to rape.

Detective Steven Laird said Lavi’s arrest capped a five-month investigation of complaints by three women, ranging in age from 27 to 37, who claimed to have been assaulted by Lavi during the last year.

Lavi’s lawyer, William T. Graysen, tried to close Friday’s arraignment to the media, arguing that publication of the charges alone might ruin his client’s successful practice treating work-related injuries. Municipal Judge Judith Abrams denied Graysen’s motion without comment.

Lavi suggested to reporters outside the courtroom that the three alleged victims may have been “disgruntled patients.” Graysen quoted Lavi as saying that the women had asked him to falsify state workers’ compensation documents so they “could obtain illegal benefits.”

Graysen said Lavi is “adamant that he is innocent.”

Investigators said Lavi came to the United States from Iran about 10 years ago and has been practicing medicine in California for about seven years. He is married.

Laird said the first complaint against Lavi was filed in August of last year, when a woman came to police complaining that she had been sexually assaulted by the doctor. That was followed this year, he said, by two complaints: one in February and another in June.

Laird declined to discuss details of the alleged assaults. Laird said other complaints may be made against Lavi, and he urged anyone with information related to the case to call him at (213) 485-2921.

Joan Jerzak, supervisor of special investigations for the Torrance office of the State Medical Board, said the state plans to seek a temporary restraining order Monday to restrain Lavi from practicing pending an administrative hearing on complaints against him.