Trial began Tuesday for a Santa Rosa chiropractor charged with fondling 10 women and teenage girls under the guise of providing medical treatment at his downtown practice.
Darius Bunyad, 36, the founder of Health Performance Chiropractic, faces 18 years in prison if convicted of wrongdoing spanning 2012 to 2015.
In opening statements, prosecutor Jason Riehl accused him of molesting mostly younger, athletic women who came to his office seeking pain relief connected to injuries or breast augmentation surgery.
He said Bunyad typically instructed the women to remove their shirts and bras before standing behind them, reaching around to their breasts and adjusting their backs.
Many of the patients, some of whom worked part-time in Bunyad’s office, questioned the technique but didn’t complain because he was a licensed chiropractor, the prosecutor said.
Police found out after receiving a report from a Cardinal Newman High School counselor who heard a description of the procedure from a student.
“This case is about trust. It’s about taking advantage of that trust,” Riehl told the seven-man, five-woman jury. “It about patients trusting that when their doctor touches them it’s for a professional purpose.”
Bunyad, dressed in a dark suit and tie, sat in the Santa Rosa courtroom, shaking his head slightly as the prosecutor read the allegations. He has agreed to stop work during the trial but his license remains valid, said his attorney, Richard Scott.
Scott suggested in his opening that Bunyad’s accusers are motivated by civil lawsuits they have filed against him seeking monetary damages or a sense of revenge after being fired by him.
Scott said many came forward after reading about Bunyad’s 2015 arrest in The Press Democrat. He suggested many used details in the story to fabricate their own claims.
He planned to call as witnesses two former office managers to vouch for Bunyad as well as a retired police detective who would say the investigation was compromised by release of too much information to the public.
“Why did they say what they did?” Scott told jurors. “Was it for financial gain? Was it retribution against Dr. Bunyad?”
Many of the women, ages 17 to 51 at the time of the alleged crimes, were expected to testify.
The first woman to take the stand was a 28-year-old cancer patient who prosecutors said accused Bunyad of grabbing her breasts and making grunting noises during a shoulder adjustment.
Check back later for more details.
You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 707-568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ppayne.
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