Virginia
Ex-children’s hospital doctor charged with sex crimes
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The former medical director of a Virginia hospital that serves vulnerable children has been charged with four felony sex crimes in connection with alleged acts of abuse that occurred at the facility, according to a local prosecutor and court records.
A grand jury indicted Dr. Daniel N. Davidow of Richmond, a former longtime employee of the Cumberland Hospital for Children and Adolescents, last month, the records show. The records were unsealed Thursday, the prosecutor announced Friday.
Robert F. Donnelly, an attorney for Davidow, told The Associated Press via email that “we are still learning details and facts, so we are not in a position to comment.”
The hospital, located in New Kent County, about half an hour east of the state capital, treats children and young adults with complex medical needs, including chronic illnesses, brain injuries and neurobehavioral disorders. An investigation into staff at the hospital by Virginia State Police has been ongoing 2017. The facility is also facing lawsuits that say it operated without proper licensing and was “devoid of fundamental sanitation or humanity,” allegations the facility denies.
The lawsuits and other concerns from patients’ parents about the hospital, which have been highlighted by persistent reporting from Richmond TV station WTVR, have raised alarms at the highest levels of state government over at least two gubernatorial administrations.
In the civil lawsuits, more than three dozen of the female plaintiffs allege Davidow sexually abused them during physical exams. In court documents and through an attorney, Davidow has previously denied the allegations.
Kevin Biniazan, an attorney representing the former patients in the civil case, said Friday he had confirmed the indictments were connected to allegations raised by two of his clients.
“The first thing that’s in my mind and probably in the minds of all my clients is that this was a long time coming. And in many ways I hope that it provides the public and my clients a sense of validation. ... They’ve been doubted and I think in many ways discouraged from coming forward in many instances.”
An attorney for the hospital did not immediately respond to an emailed inquiry from The Associated Press.
Court records list two counts of aggravated sexual battery and two counts of object sexual penetration against Davidow. The dates of the alleged offenses were in 2017 and 2018, according to the records.
Full charging documents were not immediately available.
A spokeswoman for Virginia State Police said she was working on a statement.
T. Scott Renick, the commonwealth’s attorney in New Kent County, confirmed in a brief statement that the charges were brought in connection with “acts of sexual abuse and sexual assault that occurred” at the hospital. He said his office would have no further comment.
Renick’s small office has been handling charging decisions in the Cumberland matter since Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares handed it off earlier this year in a move than surprised some legal observers, given the gravity and sprawling nature of the allegations.
Under the direction of the previous attorney general, Democrat Mark Herring, the office prosecuted two hospital staffers.
One, a 72-year-old psychotherapist, was charged with sexually abusing a patient and died by suicide the same day he was due in court for a plea hearing. The other, a behavioral technician, was sentenced in December to a year in prison after pleading no contest to an allegation that she intentionally burned a disabled child with scalding water.
California
State supreme court tosses gang murder conspiracy case
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The California Supreme Court on Thursday threw out the conspiracy-to-murder conviction of a gang member who used social media to applaud the killing of rivals during a San Diego gang war.
“Being a cheerleader” isn’t enough to show that Nicholas Hoskins conspired in the murders, the court said in an unusual and unanimous opinion.
The court overturned Hoskins’ sentence of 25 years to life and sent the case back to the appellate court that had upheld his conviction.
The case stemmed from a war between gangs affiliated with the Crips and the Bloods in the San Diego area. The war was declared after a member of Hoskins’ Bloods-connected gang was killed in 2011.
Prosecutors accused him of taking part in a “two-year-long agreement among at least 20 gang members to kill members of rival gangs, without agreement as to any specific times, persons, or places where killing would take place,” according to the Supreme Court ruling.
The prosecution cited evidence of his membership in a violent gang, his access to guns and his social media posts celebrating attacks on rival gang members.
Hoskins “knew and approved of” the goal of attacking rivals, as shown by a photograph he posted in 2013 on social media in which he makes a “Crip killer” hand sign, the Supreme Court noted.
However, the state’s high court said there wasn’t any evidence that Hoskins had actually taken part in any violent act.
The other evidence “is not sufficient to support a finding that Hoskins specifically intended ... to commit murder, either personally or through others,” the court said.
“Decades ago ... the United States Supreme Court held that the First Amendment forbids punishing a person merely for associating with others — even as part of a group premised on a violent aim,” the ruling said.
“A cheerleader, no matter how enthusiastic, is not a co-conspirator unless the prosecution can prove the cheering was intended to play some role in achieving” unlawful goals, the court said.
Massachusetts
Top pharmacy exec in deadly meningitis outbreak sentenced
BOSTON (AP) — A former co-owner of a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy at the center of a nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak that resulted in more than 100 patient deaths has been sentenced to a year in prison for conspiring to defraud the federal government.
Gregory Conigliaro, 57, as the vice president and general manager of the New England Compounding Center, was the company’s primary point of contact with federal and state regulators, federal prosecutors said in a statement after sentencing Thursday.
He and other company officials lied to the federal Food and Drug Administration and the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy by saying the business was dispensing medications for patient-specific prescriptions.
The truth, according to prosecutors, is that the company was evading regulatory oversight through fraud and misrepresentation from 2002 until 2012, routinely shipping drugs to customers without patient-specific prescriptions and even creating fraudulent prescriptions to fool regulators.
About 800 patients in 20 states were sickened with fungal meningitis or other infections and about 100 died in 2012 after receiving injections of medical steroids manufactured by the now-closed New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Massachusetts, according to federal officials. The drugs were mostly intended to treat back pain.
“Mr. Conigliaro and his co-conspirators repeatedly made the choice to put their greed over patient safety,” U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement. “In turn, nearly 800 patients suffered terribly and over 100 died. Today’s sentence sends a clear message to health care executives — if you lie to regulators, the outcomes can be deadly and we will hold you accountable.”
Conigliaro was among 14 company officials indicted in the case. The indictment did not charge Conigliaro with having any role in the manufacturing process. He was convicted by a jury in U.S. District Court in Boston in December 2018 of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Barry Cadden, another co-owner who was also the head pharmacist, was sentenced in July 2021 to 14 1/2 years in prison, ordered to forfeit $1.4 million and pay restitution of $82 million. Former supervisory pharmacist Glenn Chin was sentenced in July 2021 to 10 1/2 years in prison and ordered to pay $82 million in restitution.
Both were convicted of fraud, racketeering and other crimes but acquitted of second-degree murder under under the federal racketeering law.
Florida
Hertz to pay $168M in bogus theft settlement
Hertz says it will pay approximately $168 million by the end of the year to settle the majority of the lawsuits brought against the rental car company by some of its customers who were wrongly accused of stealing cars they had rented.
In April Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr, who took over the role in February, said that he was working to fix a glitch in the company’s systems that led to the incidents.
Hertz Global Holdings Inc. said Monday that the settlement of 364 pending claims related to vehicle theft reporting would bring resolution to more than 95% of the pending theft reporting claims.
“As I have said since joining Hertz earlier this year, my intention is to lead a company that puts the customer first. In resolving these claims, we are holding ourselves to that objective,” Scherr said in a statement.
Hertz anticipates recovering a “meaningful portion” of the settlement amount from its insurance carriers. The Estero, Florida-based company doesn’t expect the resolution of the claims to have a material impact on its capital allocation plans for the balance of the year or for 2023.
Hertz filed for bankruptcy protection in 2020, as it struggled under heavy debt and a drop in travel caused by the pandemic. It operates Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty car-rental brands.
Maine
Jury awards ex-state trooper $300K in whistleblower suit
BANGOR, Maine (AP) — A jury in Maine awarded a now-retired state trooper $300,000 Friday after finding that the state police retaliated against him when he raised concerns about the agency’s intelligence gathering work.
George Loder, 53, filed a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that he was unfairly punished after he went to his superiors with concerns about a state police division that was gathering intelligence on people including power line protesters, gun buyers and employees at a camp for Israeli and Arab teens.
Loder claimed in the suit that after he spoke up, he was reassigned to a desk job two hours from his home and then improperly denied a transfer. He has since retired.
In his suit, Loder raised concerns about data gathering by the Maine Intelligence Analysis Center, which shares information it collects with other law enforcement agencies. The lawsuit prompted questions about the center’s work and a legislative effort to eliminate it.
