Sex Offender’s Housemate Arrested

The former psychiatrist who shared a Newport Beach home with convicted sex offender James Lee Crummel was arrested Monday on charges of molesting a minor.

Burnell Gordon Forgey, 80, surrendered without incident at his Irvine home, police said, and is being held without bail at Newport Beach jail.

Forgey’s relationship with Crummel was disclosed last year when Newport Beach police informed residents of the Newport Crest condominiums that a convicted sex offender was living in Forgey’s home there.

Police said Monday that Forgey and Crummel molested a 16-year-old boy on several occasions between December 1994 and May 1995, after drugging the youth at their home. Authorities said the youth was a patient of Forgey’s at the time.

Forgey’s medical license was revoked in February.

Crummel was arrested in San Bernardino County in May 1997 on charges of child molestation. He is also a suspect in the murder of a Costa Mesa child whose charred remains were found in Riverside County several years ago.