A Mesa doctor who was charged with a dozen sex-abuse charges in 2010 was found not guilty yesterday by a jury of his peers.
Gabriel Ogbonnaya, who was a physician with Healing Touch Internal Medicine in Mesa, was accused by multiple women of making sexual advances toward them in his capacity as a doctor.
See also:
-Mesa Doc Re-Arrested on New Sex Abuse Charges
Mesa Doctor With "Healing Touch" Accused of Sexually Assaulting Patients
According to information provided by his attorney at the time of Ogbonnaya's arrest, Ogbonnaya's a native of Nigeria:
Even on his death bed, Gabriel Ogbonnaya's father could not get one thought out of his head: "My son is going to be a doctor." These were among the last words Ogbonnaya's father told his then-12-year-old son before he died, leaving his wife alone to raise six children. Driven by his father's words and disgust over the terrible healthcare conditions he saw in Nigeria, Dr. Ogbonnaya has fulfilled his father's prophecy and his own dream of opening a practice in the United States.
A devout Christian, Gabriel U. Ogbonnaya, MD, MHA is board certified in internal medicine. He received his medical training from the University of Nigeria. He graduated in 1991 as the Best Student of the Faculty of Medical Sciences and Dentistry and as the Best Student of the Department of Internal Medicine. He had his postgraduate Internal Medicine residency training at Interfaith Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York. During residency, Dr. Ogbonnaya maintained the best record in the ACP-ASIM National Internal Medicine In-Training Examinations, ranking consistently in the top 3% nationally. He passed the American Board of Internal Medicine certification examination at the top 10% and in 2006 he graduated from the University of Phoenix with a Masters in Health Administration.
The state medical board even went as far as to revoke Ogbonnaya's medical license about a year ago -- a unanimous decision by the medical board, which the agency admitted in a press release was "[d]ue to the increased number of alleged victims and the seriousness of the recent allegations."
The board told 3TV it stands by its decision to revoke his medical license.
According to court documents previously obtained by New Times, two patients told Mesa police in June 2010 that Ogbonnaya was making sexual advances toward them.
The women claimed that first, the doctor caressed their faces and put his forehead to theirs. Both women claimed Ogbonnaya "tapped" their vaginas and encouraged them to have more sex.
After Ogbonnaya was arrested as a result of those allegations, he was re-arrested soon after that, after police said that 25 more women had called in to make allegations against Ogbonnaya -- which his lawyer insisted only came in after media reporting on his initial arrest.
The jury found Ogbonnaya not guilty on 11 counts of sex abuse and one count of sexual assault.
James King contributed to this post.
