A former gynecologist was sentenced to 11 years in prison for sexually abusing patients throughout the course of his decades-long career at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Judge Michael Carter denied James Heaps another trial before handing him his punishment during a hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday. He was also ordered to register as a sex offender, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said.
The sentence comes after Heaps was convicted in October on three counts of sexual battery by fraud and two counts of sexual penetration.
Heaps was also acquitted on seven other counts while jurors remained deadlocked on another nine charges. All 21 felony counts stem from the sexual assaults of seven women between 2009 and 2018. Heaps’ victims claimed he sexually abused them during their appointments under the guise of medical treatment.
Scores more women have accused Heaps of sexual assault and sexual misconduct between 1983 and 2018, when he worked at the UCLA student health center and UCLA Medical Center. Some have said Heaps groped them or made suggestive comments while others accused him of conducting unnecessarily invasive exams.
The former doctor, who retired in 2018, was arrested in June 2019 and his medical license was suspended by court order. In 2021, he was indicted on multiple counts each of sexual battery by fraud, sexual exploitation of a patient and sexual penetration of an unconscious person by fraudulent representation.
Following his arrest, and the subsequent scandal, UCLA paid payments totaling nearly $700 million in lawsuit settlements to hundreds of Heaps’ patients.
Women who brought the lawsuits said the university ignored their complaints and intentionally concealed abuse that happened during examinations at the UCLA student health center, the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center or in Heaps’ campus office.
Heaps continued to practice until his retirement.