Former Norwell pediatrician accused of child rape due to return to court Thursday

HINGHAM − A former Norwell pediatrician accused of sexual assault by dozens of former patients is due to return to Hingham District Court on Thursday for a probable cause hearing.

Richard Kauff, who practiced for decades in Norwell and Kingston, was charged Nov. 2 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 involving two former patients.

When Kauff last appeared before a judge Jan. 12, his probable cause hearing was postponed. Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Beth Kusmin said the state was in the middle of its presentation to a Plymouth County grand jury. Due to the number of allegations, about three dozen, Kusmin said that would take time.

History of the case

At Kauff's Nov. 20 arraignment, Kusmin told the court that 22 more women and girls, former patients of the Norwell pediatrician, had come forward to accuse him of sexual assault. At the Jan. 12 hearing, Kusmin said that number had grown to 36.

Kusmin said the number of allegations had been "growing exponentially" since the original charges became public, and that "it could keep growing."

"We anticipate dozens more similar charges," she said.

Kauff is free on $50,000 bail set by Hingham District Court Judge Heather Bradley. He has already relinquished his medical license.

Kauff denies charges against him

Kauff "adamantly denies the charges," his lawyer said in court at the arraignment.

The lawyer, Kelli Lea Porges, said that as she sat with her client in the court's lobby, three people approached Kauff to shake his hand and voice their support. She described Kauff as "a lifelong member of the community."

Porges said there is no reason to presume Kauff won't abide by the various stay-away orders that are part of his bail conditions.

Potential life sentence for Kauff, prosecutor says

Kusmin said that if convicted of any one of the four felony rape charges, Kauff would spend the rest of his life in prison.

The charges stem from statements made to Norwell police by two former patients, both female, who said Kauff abused and digitally raped them during annual physical exams at South Shore Medical Center's old location at 75 Washington St. in Norwell.

The charges refer to dates spanning from November 1991 to August 2004.

The women, who were interviewed separately, told police Kauff abused them beginning when they were 7 and 8 years old, respectively, until they left pediatric care when they were about 18 or 19 years old.

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The allegations surfaced after one of the women spoke to her therapist about Kauff. The therapist advised the woman to contact police, according to the police report.

On Oct. 4, she wrote an anonymous post on a Facebook group called South Shore Mamas asking if it was normal for a doctor to digitally penetrate patients during routine checkups, the police report said.

A second woman responded to the post, saying she had similar experiences at annual physicals when she was a child. In the exchange that followed, the women discovered they had the same pediatrician, Dr. Kauff at South Shore Medical Center in Norwell.

More: South Shore pediatrician charged with sexually assaulting children for years

The women had never met or spoken to each other before, according to the police report.

Both women told police that the penetration occurred after Kauff had them lie down on an exam table.

Both reported that Kauff would tell them to count to three just before inserting his fingers, telling them that "it's like a rocket ship."

Neither woman had complained about vaginal ailments or issues to Kauff, the police report says.

Parents sometimes in Kauff's exam room, blocked from view

The women said Kauff abused them even when their parents were in the examination room. They said he would use his large frame to block their parents' view of what he was doing on the exam table, according to the police report.

Detectives visited Kauff at his Norwell home Oct. 11 and informed him about the allegations. The police report says Kauff became "extremely upset" and said he had practiced medicine for 40 years without an issue.

After he was charged, he entered into a "voluntary agreement not to practice" with the state Board of Registration in Medicine.

District attorney Cruz encourages potential victims to contact Norwell or Kingston police

After the arraignment, Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz spoke with reporters outside the courthouse. He encouraged anyone with further information related to the case to contact Norwell or Kingston police, the two towns where Kauff practiced for decades.

Cruz said he welcomed the media presence at the arraignment, saying the 20 women and two girls who came forward with additional allegations against Kauff did so after seeing reports in the media.

Cruz called the women courageous for coming forward with experiences that they likely have struggled with throughout their lives, and encouraged others to do the same.

More: Norwell pediatrician accused of sexual abuse. How to protect kids at the doctor's office

"Please come forward," he said. "We're here to help. It doesn't matter if it happened 10 days ago, 10 years ago or 30 years ago," Cruz said, referring to the age of the allegations, some of which date back more than 30 years.

He said there are always legal challenges with any case.

"We have the burden of proof," he said.

He likened the case to similar prosecutions against the Boston archdiocese. He said some of those were "very, very old cases," adding that the statute of limitations in Massachusetts has changed over the past 20 years.

South Shore Health reaches out to Kauff's former patients, offers assistance

South Shore Health released a statement directly following the Jan. 12 hearing:

"South Shore Health's focus continues to be on supporting and assisting patients and families of former pediatrician Dr. Kauff. We have reached out to his previous patients who received care in our organization to convey this message and to let them know how to reach us. We want to assure our community that patient safety and quality of care is our top priority."

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Former pediatrician Richard Kauff due back in court on rape charges