Former Pediatrician Convicted of Sexual Battery of 3 Women : Court: Stuart Berlin faces up to 18 months in jail after being found guilty of fondling the Ventura County residents.

A former Westlake pediatrician was convicted Friday of three misdemeanor charges of sexual battery involving Ventura County women, but the jury deadlocked on three additional charges that he molested a Calabasas resident.

After two days of deliberation, the Ventura County Municipal Court jury convicted Stuart M. Berlin, 35, of fondling the three women. Berlin faces up to 18 months in jail.

Four women testified during a five-day trial that Berlin had fondled them in June or July of 1991 after they visited his Westlake office.

One of the women, from Thousand Oaks, testified that she consulted Berlin when her child developed an earache. During the examination in Berlin’s office, the woman mentioned having migraine headaches and the physician gave her a massage and fondled her breasts, the woman testified. A few days later, she said, Berlin called to inform her that he made house calls.

Another Thousand Oaks woman testified that Berlin fondled her breasts in a sexual manner after she sought treatment for breast-feeding problems. The third Ventura County woman, a Moorpark resident, testified that Berlin also fondled her at his office.

The Calabasas woman testified that Berlin twice fondled her breasts after she mentioned having back pain during office visits with her child. A third molestation occurred when the physician retrieved a stethoscope that he had down her blouse, the woman testified.

Berlin’s attorney, Timothy J. Quinn, questioned why some of the women waited several weeks or, in some cases, months before reporting the alleged molestations.

“We’re not talking about kids,” Quinn said in his closing argument. “We’re talking about adult people, women who by all appearances are in control of their lives.”

Quinn also noted that the women continued to take their children to Berlin after the incidents. “You don’t keep going to someone who molests you, no matter how good a pediatrician he is.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. William G. Karr said all the incidents met the requirements for sexual battery, which the law defines as touching the private parts of another person without the person’s consent and for sexual gratification.

Several jurors said they were troubled at first that the women did not report the incidents immediately. “That puzzled me greatly,” said Patsy Spencer of Oxnard. “I had to put myself in their position, the embarrassment they felt.”

The Calabasas woman’s credibility was suspect, jurors said, because she continued to see Berlin despite her claim that he molested her three times. Some jurors said they also wondered whether the woman’s testimony was intended to bolster her position in a lawsuit she has filed against Berlin.

The jurors said they were split 9 to 3 for conviction on the first charge involving the Calabasas woman but favored acquittal on the other two charges by votes of 9 to 3 and 8 to 4. The four men on the jury favored conviction on most of the counts, jurors said, while the eight women were divided.

Judge Barry B. Klopfer declared a mistrial on the three unresolved counts, and Karr said he would tell the court Tuesday whether he will seek to retry Berlin on those charges. A sentencing date will also be set on Tuesday.

Berlin has closed his medical practice, and the Medical Board of California has initiated proceedings aimed at revoking his medical license. Quinn told Klopfer that the physician has undergone four months of psychiatric therapy.