Doctor Faces Added Charges of Molesting 2 More Women : Lancaster: Three new criminal counts are filed and the state medical board seeks to revoke the physician’s license.

A Lancaster doctor with a prior criminal conviction for fondling a patient was charged Thursday with molesting two more women, and in a separate case faces losing his medical license for allegedly having sex with a patient.

Prosecutors filed three criminal charges Thursday accusing Ziyad A. Ghabra, a 40-year-old obstetrician and gynecologist, of exposing himself to a woman visitor and fondling her breasts, and rubbing his groin against a patient at his Lancaster office in June.

In a separate move, meanwhile, state medical authorities earlier this month filed a five-count administrative accusation seeking to revoke or suspend Ghabra’s license, accusing him of having sex at least four times with another patient in late 1987 and early 1988.

Sheriff’s deputies reported Thursday that two more women had called them after the criminal case was filed in Antelope Municipal Court, contending they too had been fondled by Ghabra within the past two years. Deputies said they would investigate those allegations as well.

However, neither the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, which filed the criminal case, nor the staff of the state medical board, which is handling the patient’s sex accusation, were aware of each other’s separate proceedings against Ghabra.

Court records show the doctor previously was convicted of two misdemeanors--battery and sexual battery--for fondling the breasts of another employee-patient in June, 1986. An appeal later led to the dismissal of the sexual battery charge. But he was fined and required to perform community service on the battery conviction.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Foltz, who prosecuted the original case, said Ghabra faces a maximum of five years in prison if convicted of the new charges. Ghabra remained at large Thursday, although a warrant for his arrest was issued and authorities expected him to surrender shortly.

Ghabra has told sheriff’s deputies that he did not molest either of the women in the latest criminal case, the Sheriff’s Department said.

Ghabra is charged with two felonies--sexual battery and false imprisonment--for allegedly fondling a woman who visited his office on business June 15. He also is charged with misdemeanor battery for allegedly rubbing against a pregnant woman as he examined her June 2.

After being told of the new criminal case by a reporter on Thursday, medical board spokeswoman Janie Cordray said her agency may seek either a temporary restraining order from a judge or an interim suspension of Ghabra’s license to immediately stop him from practicing medicine.

The board’s accusation says Ghabra exposed himself to another patient in July, 1987, fondled her breasts in October, 1987, had sex with her four times in a motel or his office between December, 1987, and February, 1988, and reduced her medical bill by $800 as a “courtesy write-off.”

Cordray said the prior criminal case resulted in no medical board action, and the medical board’s current case is beyond the statute of limitations for criminal charges.