A neurologist who was convicted last month of sexually assaulting patients committed suicide Monday at a New York jail, according to 2 sources familiar with the matter.
According to 6abc, Dr. Ricardo Cruciani, 68, the former chairman of the neurology department at Drexel University in Philadelphia, was discovered immobile in a shower area at the Eric M. Taylor Center, a correctional facility at the dreaded Rikers Island compound, according to the sources. They were not permitted to speak publicly and requested anonymity.
Cruciani’s lawyer, Frederick Sosinsky, confirmed his client’s death in a statement, but did not specify how.
“Ricardo’s attorneys and family are shocked and saddened beyond belief to have learned of his violent death while in city custody this morning,” he said.
According to prosecutors, Cruciani nurtured vulnerable patients by overmedication of painkillers, often to treat severe injuries from automobile accidents and other accidents.
Six women gave testimony that sexual abuse occurred frequently behind locked doors during consultations at a Manhattan medical center in 2013, where the doctor would reveal himself and insist on having sex.
He was also scheduled to stand trial next January on federal charges of abusing numerous patients at his office spaces in New York, Philadelphia, and Hopewell, New Jersey over a 15-year period.
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