LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥� A former longtime University of California, Los Angeles gynecologist at the center of a sexual misconduct scandal that prompted the school to pay $700 million to settle hundreds of claims pleaded guilty Tuesday to sexual abuse charges and now faces 11 years in prison.
The plea by James Heaps was unexpected -鈥� earlier this year an appeals court on the charges and his lawyer said it was only a matter of time before he was exonerated. Instead, the 69-year-old admitted his guilt to 13 felony counts, six of which involved sexually abusing an unconscious person.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know that this day would come,鈥� said Nicole Gumpert, one of Heaps鈥� victims, at a news conference. 鈥淭here were many, many women involved in this case. We refuse to be silent.鈥�
The Associated Press typically does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they identify themselves publicly.
Heaps’ attorney Leonard Levine did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on the guilty plea.
Heaps was to 11 years in prison after being convicted of five counts of sexual battery and penetration involving two patients he saw while affiliated with the university. It was overturned by an appeals court in February, which ruled that Heaps was because the judge did not share with his attorneys a note from the jury’s foreman sharing concerns about a juror’s English proficiency.
鈥淣ow you have finally admitted what you have done, and while your sentence falls short of the justice truly demands, your ultimate prison will endure in perpetuity, a depraved legacy stripped of respect, honor, and integrity filled instead with shame,鈥� Gumpert told him and the judge at his new sentencing, the Los Angeles Times .
Heaps, appearing an orange jail shirt and pants, showed almost no reaction as he was sentenced, the Los Angeles Times reported.
LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said the guilty plea was a significant milestone for the seven-year case, during which Heaps had tried to delay proceedings and discredit survivors who testified against him.
鈥淲hile no sentence can undo the incredible harm that James Heaps engaged in 鈥� hopefully these admissions of guilt and the sentence he received today are a small measure of justice for all that the survivors had to endure,鈥� Hochman said.
The renowned UCLA gynecologist, who at one point was one of the highest paid physicians employed by the school, was indicted in 2021 on multiple counts each of sexual battery by fraud, sexual exploitation of a patient and sexual penetration of an unconscious person by fraudulent representation. The charges were linked to the sexual assaults of seven women between 2009 and 2018.
In the wake of the scandal that erupted in 2019 following the doctor鈥檚 arrest, UCLA agreed to pay nearly $700 million in lawsuit settlements to hundreds of Heaps鈥� patients 鈥� a record amount by a public university amid a wave of sexual misconduct scandals by campus doctors in recent years.
UCLA patients said Heaps groped them, made suggestive comments or conducted unnecessarily invasive exams during his 35-year career.
He pleaded guilty Tuesday to six counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person, five counts of sexual battery by fraud, and two counts of sexual exploitation of a patient, Hochman said.
John Manly, who represented more than 200 of Heaps鈥� former patients in lawsuits against the university, said Heaps’ guilty plea and sentence sends a clear message that 鈥渢here will be severe consequences for any violation of patients鈥� rights and dignity.鈥�
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