New Jersey cardiologist goes to trial for sexual misconduct
Cardiologist John Stobeck, accused of inappropriately touching a female patient during a medical exam in 2012, headed to trial on Tuesday, the North Jersey Record reports.
It’s the first court date for Stobeck, 72, in a six-count indictment handed down by a New Jersey grand jury in 2015. Six separate women have accused the physician of fondling them, but in this case the alleged victim—who remains unnamed due to the nature of the case—said Stobeck was examining her back with a stethoscope when he slipped his hand under her shirt and rested it on her right breast.
The woman reportedly left the office and texted a friend from her car “almost immediately,” saying she’d been “felt up” by Stobeck during her exam.
Stobeck’s defense maintains the touching was “inadvertent,” and his attorney said he plans to put both Stobeck and another medical expert on the witness stand to testify to that.
New Jersey suspended the physician’s license in August 2015, the Record reported, pending the outcome of the six-count indictment, but Strobeck can still practice in New York. If convicted, he faces up to 18 months in prison.
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After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.