A former Upper East Side doctor is in federal custody, held without bond after being arrested charged with sexually assaulting children who were patients in his care. Dr. Darius Paduch, 55, now known as inmate 53470-510, is currently locked up in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, held on a four-count indictment alleging he violated at least one boy with a sex toy.
According to the federal indictment, Dr. Paduch sexually abused and assaulted multiple men and children during the course of his nearly 20-year employment at two New York medical centers — one of which was identified in a separate civil lawsuit as New York-Presbyterian Hospital on the Upper East Side from 2003 to 2019; the other, from 2019 on, is listed on Dr. Paduch’s website as Northwell Health’s Center for Advanced Medicine on Long Island.
“For years, Darius Paduch abused the trust of patients, including minors, who saw him for sensitive medical problems,” said Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, following the indictment’s unsealing by a judge last Tuesday.
“Paduch took advantage of his victims for his own deviant satisfaction. Thanks to this morning’s arrest, Paduch’s abuse of his patients ends today,” Williams explained.
The federal grand jury indictment alleges that the urologist used his position at prominent medical institutions in an attempt “to make the victims believe that the sexual abuse he inflicted on them was medically necessary.”
Court documents reveal that one former child patient is now suing the Dr. Paduch, as well as New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where he says he was sexually abused by the urologist for three years starting in 2016.
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Upper East Site does not identify victims of sexual abuse unless they have come forward publicly to share their story, as is the case of Tucker Coburn, who filed a lawsuit under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which gives victims of childhood abuse a narrow window to seek damages for cases beyond the statute of limitations.
Coburn spoke candidly about the traumatic sexual abuse he endured as a child in an interview with CBS New York following Paduch’s arrest.
“I’ve spent a long time questioning my body, whether there was something wrong with me or if I did something to produce that reaction from my doctor,” Coburn, now an adult, told the news station, “I couldn’t trust my own judgment.”
The indictment unsealed last week alleges that Dr. Paduch “frequently insisted on masturbating the victims [his young patients] himself by grabbing their penises and stimulating their genitalia with his hands or a vibrating instrument that certain victims understood to be a sex toy,” federal prosecutors wrote, noting that the abuse of patients continued at follow-up appointments over the course of several years.
“He kind of convinced me to masturbate in front of him and he also touched me inappropriately and pressed himself against me to express his sexual interest,” Coburn explained.
At least once, the federal indictment states, after one of the doctor’s alleged child victims ejaculated, Paduch smeared the boy’s semen on the child’s mouth and “expressed incredulity that [the boy] had never tasted his own semen.”
“Sexual abuse of anyone at any age for any reason is a horrific crime that carries strict penalties,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge Michael J. Driscoll.
“If you have been victimized by Darius Paduch in any way or have any additional information about his alleged illegal behavior, please call us at 1-800-CALL-FBI,” Driscoll added.
The doctor, who is officially charged with Inducement to Travel to Engage in Unlawful Sexual Activity, for allegedly luring children to his office under the guise of care but instead abused them, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, if convicted.
“Ever since I filed my report in 2020, I’ve been looking for him to be criminally charged and put behind bars. That’s my number one goal. That’s where he belongs,” Coburn told CBS, explaining that he wants justice for the abuse he endured as a child.
“But at the very least I hope this ends his medical career and ensures he has no chance of abusing anyone else in the future,” he added.
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In response to an inquiry from Upper East Site, Weill Cornell Medicine, which employed Dr. Paduch and contracted his services to New York-Presbyterian Hospital, said in a statement that it “values the care and safety of our patients above all else, and we are taking these disturbing allegations very seriously.”
“The charges in the indictment against Dr. Paduch are shocking and appalling, and we feel deeply for the patients involved,” a Weill Cornell Medicine spokesperson continued, “We will fully cooperate with law enforcement, and Cornell’s Office of General Counsel has engaged outside counsel to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the behavior of former WCM faculty member Dr. Paduch and the circumstances surrounding the allegations.”
New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where the alleged sexual abuse took place, did not respond to multiple inquires from Upper East Site.
Northwell Health said in statement that it “strives to provide the highest level of care to its patients, patients’ families and communities and we take these allegations very seriously.”
“Dr. Paduch is no longer working at Northwell. We will cooperate with the appropriate authorities as they conduct their investigation,” the hospital system added.
Paduch has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
