Sacto 9-1-1

By Andy Furillo
afurillo@sacbee.com

A judge today ordered a Sacramento workers compensation doctor to stand trial for three counts of rape and 38 sexual assault-related charges over his interactions with five patients who came to him after they had been hurt on the job.

Scott Dodd Anderson, 61, remained free on $750,000 bail pending his return to court for an additional arraignment on Nov. 30.

"We have a very powerful pattern of conduct," Sacramento Superior Court Judge Peter Mering said, following the one-day preliminary hearing.

Mering said that the five women all went to authorities independent of each other, even though two of them reported Anderson's conduct to investigators after news stories had already broken that he'd been arrested.

"Did these five women conspire? I find that extremely unlikely," Mering said.

Anderson's lawyer questioned the credibility of the five alleged victims in the case, but Mering said the "unlikelihood" of their getting together provided to him the "test" of their credibility.

The judge's order came after two Sacramento sheriff's officials related the stories from the five women who told them they were sexually assaulted during their examinations by Anderson.

One of the women told a sheriff's deputy that she was raped when she saw Anderson for an on-the-job back injury.

All of the alleged assaults took place in Anderson's office at U.S. Healthworks on at 9261 Folsom Boulevard, according to sheriff's Detective Brad Jones and Deputy Juan Hidalgo, who testified about their conversations with the women.

Anderson's license has since been suspended by the California Medical Board. He is no longer working at U.S. Healthworks, a spokesman for the firm said today.

Hidalgo testified that he provided a Spanish-to-English translation for the woman who is named as the victim in the three rape counts contained in the complaint against Anderson.

The woman said in her interview with authorities that Anderson told her to unbutton her pants, then forced her underwear down and bent her over a chair, Hidalgo said.

She told investigators "he grabbed her by the hair, rolled it up, pushed her against a bed and chair" and raped her, according to the deputy's testimony.

The alleged rape took place on the woman's fourth visit to Anderson. She said he touched her inappropriately on her three previous visits with him, which are also the subject of some of the allegations in the criminal complaint.

Anderson's attorney had just begun his cross examination of Deputy Hidalgo when the preliminary hearing broke for the lunch break.

All of the other women also told investigators they continued to see Anderson after he touched and fondled them, the sheriff's officials testified.

One of the women said she continued to see Anderson because she felt "he had control over her workers' compensation case," Jones testified.

Another said she was a recovering addict with a criminal record and that Anderson said he'd ruin her life if she told anybody what happened, according to Jones' testimony.

Call The Bee's Andy Furillo, (916) 321-1141.