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UCLA Gynecologist Charged With Sexual Abuse
Royce Hall is pictured at the University of California, Los Angeles, in a recent file photo. (Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/LAist/KPCC)
UCLA revealed a months-long internal investigation against one of its longtime obstetrician-gynecologists on Monday when the former doctor turned himself in.
In a statement, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said Dr. James Heaps surrendered to law enforcement on Monday after being charged with sexual battery.
A spokesman for the L.A. County District Attorney said prosecutors had charged Heaps last month with two counts of sexual battery and one count of sexual exploitation of a patient and that he was scheduled to be arraigned at the Airport Courthouse on Monday.
The charges are the result of two victims who came forward to complain about Heaps' treatment of them in 2017 and 2018. UCLA said it knows of two separate complaints against Heaps.
UCLA says Heaps retired last year when the university moved to fire him in the wake of the investigations against him.
The four allegations against the former UCLA campus gynecologist pale in comparison to the hundreds of allegations against former USC gynecologist George Tyndall.
Heaps worked part time at the UCLA student health center until 2010 and was on staff at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center for 20 years. The university said the incidents occurred in 2017 and 2018 at a UCLA medical facility.
Block says UCLA is conducting a review of how the university handled the complaints.