Pasadena Therapist Accused of Having Sex With Patients

A Pasadena therapist has been arrested on two felony counts of sexually exploiting female patients who came to him for marriage counseling.

Sami Hickey Alexander, 45, a licensed marriage and family therapist, was arrested at his Pasadena home Tuesday and released on $40,000 bail.

Alexander faces as much as three years in prison if he is convicted on charges of engaging in sex with a patient or former patient while practicing therapy.

“The victims were women in their 40s,” said Pasadena Police Lt. Rick Aversano. “Essentially he gained their confidence during their therapy sessions and eventually he used it to manipulate them into a sexual relationship.”

Aversano alleged that Alexander had sex on numerous occasions with clients, beginning in the early 1990s.

The therapist, Aversano said, was arrested after two victims met each other and agreed to go together to authorities. Police say that at least one other woman has also contacted them about Alexander’s conduct. Under state law, a therapist cannot have sex with a client or former client, even with consent. Alexander, who has been a licensed therapist since 1988, could not be reached for comment.

Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, said prosecutors filed the charges Dec. 27 and a warrant was issued for Alexander’s arrest. He is scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 2.

The criminal charges came after state officials began proceedings to revoke Alexander’s therapy license because of allegations of misconduct reported by two female clients.

Last Aug. 23, the state Board of Behavioral Sciences and the attorney general’s office accused Alexander of gross negligence, intentionally causing emotional harm to clients and sexual abuse, misconduct and relations with patients.

In October 1989, he began counseling a married couple but after a while only the wife continued the sessions. According to the allegations, Alexander “engaged her in sexual contact and on numerous occasions for least 3 1/2 years at almost every session, including one which she attended just after receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer.”

Alexander allegedly gave the woman an expensive vase and a key to his office, went shopping with her and sent her a catalog of sex toys, according to the state accusation.

State officials alleged that he also began a sexual relationship with another woman after she and her husband came to see him in 1991. Alexander allegedly engaged in a sexual relationship with the woman patient, causing emotional stress for her husband, according to a state accusation.

At one point, state officials allege, Alexander offered the husband “free therapy sessions for his wife . . . in exchange for nude photographs of her.” The state accusation called this “an extreme departure from standard practice.”

Kim Hunter, a state Department of Consumer Affairs spokeswoman, said a hearing before the state board on Alexander’s license is scheduled for Jan. 22.

Licenses of a dozen marriage and family therapists in California were revoked for sexual misconduct in the 1999-2000 fiscal year, state records show. So far in the 2000-2001 fiscal year, four have lost their licenses for the same violations.