Jailed Healer Says He Never Misrepresented His Services

A Laguna Beach holistic healer arrested last week on suspicion of practicing medicine without a license and performing inappropriate and unsupervised gynecological exams on patients insisted in a jail interview Saturday that he is “guilty of no wrongdoing.”

Salvatore Anthony D’Onofrio, who turns 52 today, adamantly maintained that he “absolutely never” told patients who came to his Laguna Beach home office that he was a medical doctor, stressing instead that he was a “doctor of nutripathy,” which he described as an alternative treatment focusing on nutrition and enhancement of the immune system.

D’Onofrio was arrested Thursday afternoon at his home as he conducted a consultation with a first-time patient who had come to him for headache treatment, he said.

Laguna Beach Police say D’Onofrio has been charged with two counts of practicing medicine without a and “conducting gynecological examinations on females who thought he has a licensed medical health professional.”

The arrest followed a weeklong investigation by Laguna Beach detectives and senior investigators from the Medical Board of California, said Sgt. Bob Rahaeuser.

It was initiated by a woman who told police she had been “inappropriately fondled by D’Onofrio in his home during a physical examination.”

“Preliminary interviews with at least five female clients indicate D’Onofrio instructed them to disrobe for physical examinations, examined breasts, conducted gynecological examinations, diagnosed various ailments, and prescribed a variety of holistic treatments,” Rahaeuser said in a police statement.

“Some of those treatments involved spraying nude women with an unknown solution and probing body cavities with various objects.”

D’Onofrio said he has a doctorate from the American College of Nutripathy in Scottsdale, Ariz. A recording at the school’s phone line does not identify it as a college, but rather as a health-product business.

Looking weary, he said in a jail interview Saturday that he was stunned by the arrest and felt it stemmed in part from a misunderstanding of holistic medicine by medical board investigators and police.

“Nutripathy is a spiritual, mental and physical approach to the whole being in front of me,” he said. “It’s a very loving and caring way of dealing with a person. Unfortunately, some people mistake loving and caring for sexuality.”

The goal of the holistic medicine he practices is to “re-balance the body and stimulate the immune system,” he said.

D’Onofrio conceded, however, that some women have become uncomfortable with his treatments, which he said include teaching patients how to administer enemas and vaginal douches, and using oxygen tubes to activate patients’ immune systems and cure their vaginal infections.

“Some people, even though I tell them I’m a nutripathic doctor, they say, ‘I don’t think it’s appropriate for a nutritionist to be doing this,’ ” he said. “I’ve had people . . . who [became] uncomfortable with this two or three days after they were fine with it. If someone gives me permission to go forward, all I can do is go forward.”

D’Onofrio said the oxygenation treatments are not part of nutripathy but a technique he learned from an Austrian doctor. He said he does not conduct pelvic exams because they are in the domain of medical doctors.

“I give the woman the machine and I tell her what to do,” he said. “Some women want me to leave the room but most want me to stay there. I use draping for privacy. Some elect not to do it.”

D’Onofrio said he has published a book, “Yeast Control in 7 Days,” and lectures at Mother’s Market in Costa Mesa and at other health product outlets.

D’Onofrio’s bail was set at $150,000, and his arraignment is scheduled for Monday in Municipal Court in Laguna Niguel. He said he is being held in seclusion for his own protection, because the accusations hint at a sex offense and could subject him to violence from other inmates.

D’Onofrio said thousands of people with everything “from colds to cancer” have benefited from his treatments since he began practicing in 1984. He started working in Laguna Beach in 1987 and said he has stacks of thank-you cards from people who appreciated his work.

Police said they expect their investigation to grow. They plan to contact each of the 300 people who had a patient file at D’Onofrio’s home, where officers served a search warrant.