Authorities say they’re looking into other allegations against Dr. Torres.
Frederick, Md (KM) A judge set bond at $100,000 for a Frederick pediatrician whose charged with sexually molesting an 18-year-old woman who was his patient.
In addition to this fully secured bond, the judge told Dr. Ernesto Torres to surrender his passport of visa, if he has one. He will be placed in the Sheriff’s Office Home Detention Program, and must not have any unsupervised contact with patients or minors in his medical practice.
State’s Attorney Charlie Smith says prosecutors wanted Dr. Torres to remain in jail. “We believe that he was substantial threat to the community, and should be held without bond,” he says. “The judge felt a little differently. She felt that whether he was going to continue with his practice or not should be up to the medical board to determine.”
The Maryland Board of Physicians licenses doctors in the state, and can suspend or revoke their licenses.
Smith also says this one alleged victim of Dr. Torres may not be the only one. “We have asked that anyone with information regarding these allegations, or new allegations, to come forward. They have,” he says. “To date, the Frederick Police Department has fielded about 11 new people claiming to have been subjected to similar types of conduct.”
Frederick Police have launched some new investigations, according to Smith. :”Again, they’re only allegations. They’re only investigations right now so we can’t comment on the specificity of those. We’ll have to take a look of each one independently of the other to determine whether we believe charges should be filed on those particular investigations,” he says.
Dr. Torres was indicted by the Grand Jury last week for 2nd-degree rape, 2nd-degree assault and 4th-degree sex offense. He was arrested at his home on Tuesday morning by Frederick Police.
By Kevin McManus
Dr. Ernesto Torres