A Massachusetts pediatrician has been arrested and charged with raping two children — but new allegations have led to an investigation to determine if he has been sexually assaulting patients for generations.
Dr. Richard Kauff, 68, has been treating children in the town of Norwell for 40 years. He was arrested on November 2 and charged with 12 felony counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 and four felony counts of rape of a child with force.
By the time of his arraignment on Monday, November 20, in the Hingham District Court, 20 more women and two girls had come forward alleging that they had also been sexually assaulted by the pediatrician.
The investigation into Kauff began when a woman, identified as "Victim 2," asked in a private Facebook group called "South Shore Mamas" if it was "normal" for a doctor to insert "their fingers in her vagina during a yearly checkup?"
"The response she received from the post was overwhelming in that what happened to her was not the norm," Norwell police report says, according to a report from NBC News.
Another woman, identified as "Victim 1," also believed that it was a "normal part of a routine pediatric physical exam."
At this point, the women realized that they were both treated by Dr. Kauff.
Both women began seeing him between the ages of 7 and 8 and continued to see him, and be abused, until they were between 18 and 19.
NBC News reports: Both alleged that Kauff would have them change into paper gowns, lie down on an examination table and then count to three before he would insert his fingers into their vaginas. “It’s like a rocket ship,” Kauff would say, according to the police report. Sometimes Kauff did it while their parents were in the examination room, the women told police. But they could not see what he was doing, because his large frame blocked their view.
Plymouth County Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Beth Kusmin said during the arraignment that the number of allegations “has been growing exponentially” since his arrest.
“We anticipate dozens more similar charges,” Kusmin said, according to the report.
Kauff's lawyer, Kelli Lea Porges, said that her client "adamantly denies the charges."
The crimes he is accused of took place from November 1991 to August 2004. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Kauff was released on $50,000 bail. His next court appearance is scheduled for January 11.
