LOS ANGELES (AP) - A former University of Southern California campus gynecologist accused of sexually assaulting 21 patients pleaded not guilty Friday to six new charges.
George Tyndall, 73, entered pleas to five counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person and one count of sexual battery by fraud.
The charges involve five women who say they were assaulted by Tyndall while he was working at the USC health center between 2011 and 2015. He previously pleaded not guilty to criminal charges involving 16 women.
All 21 victims went to the campus facility for annual exams or for other treatment dating back to 2009, prosecutors said.
Tyndall resigned in 2017 after working at USC for nearly 30 years. Allegations against him became public in 2018 through a Los Angeles Times investigation.
If convicted as charged, Tyndall now faces a possible maximum sentence of 64 years in state prison.
In February, the U.S. Department of Education said it found systemic failures in USC’s treatment of allegations of sexual abuse by Tyndall and ordered the school to overhaul its procedures for preventing sex discrimination and to conduct a formal review of how employees responded. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos called it a “total and complete failure to protect students.”
USC’s new president, Carol L. Folt, pledged to protect the safety of students, faculty and staff and to restore trust in the university.
A federal judge in January approved a $215 million class-action settlement between USC and about 18,000 women who saw Tyndall at the university. Payments would range from $2,500 to $250,000, with specific sums decided by a panel of experts.
Hundreds of women have opted out of the federal court settlement and many are pursuing separate lawsuits in state court.
Tyndall and USC have also been sued in state court by about 600 alleged victims.
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