Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has opened a new investigation into a notorious obstetrician who has been accused of sexual assault by more than 70 women, including Andrew Yang’s wife, who came forward last month.
At least 31 women, joined a lawsuit against Robert Hadden, 61, after Evelyn Yang revealed in January that she was sexually assaulted by the former Columbia University doctor.
Yang, who is the wife of the former Democratic presidential candidate, spoke out about the alleged sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of Hadden while she was pregnant with her first child.
‘Something about being on the trail and meeting people and seeing the difference that we’ve been making already has moved me to share my own story about it, about sexual assault,’ she told CNN.
Yang said she first began seeing Hadden in New York in early 2012.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance (pictured) has opened a new investigation into a notorious obstetrician who has been accused of sexual assault by more than 70 women, including Andrew Yang’s wife, who came forward last month
At least 31 women, joined a lawsuit against Robert Hadden (left), 61, after Evelyn Yang (right) revealed in January that she was sexually assaulted by the former Columbia University doctor
As the months went on, Yang said, Hadden began asking her inappropriate questions about her sexual activity and spent more time conducting examinations.
When she was seven months pregnant, Yang said, she believed her appointment was done and she was getting ready to leave when the doctor told her abruptly that he thought she might need a cesarean section.
She said Hadden pulled her to him and undressed her, then used his fingers to examine her internally.
‘I knew it was wrong. I knew I was being assaulted,’ she said.
But Yang said she ‘just kind of froze’ and didn’t react. ‘I remember trying to fix my eyes on a spot on the wall and just trying to avoid seeing his face as he was assaulting me, just waiting for it to be over,’ she told CNN.
After the doctor left the room, she left the practice and didn’t return.
Since Yang’s interview, 40 more women have come forward with allegations against Hadden, prompting DA Vance to launch a new investigation.
In a statement to CBS, the DA’s office said: ‘District Attorney Vance has assigned incoming Sex Crimes Unit Chief Coleen Balbert and senior prosecutor Mimi Mairs to lead the investigation of any new claims, and our prosecutors are in touch with a representative of a number of survivors.’
Andrew Yang said he was ‘extraordinarily proud’ of his wife Evelyn (pictured together) for telling her story and no one deserves to be treated as she was
‘We admire the courage of the survivors who have recently shared their stories. Their voices will be heard and the abuse they suffered will be thoroughly investigated,’ the statement reads.
The DA’s office is also strongly encouraging ‘all survivors of Robert Hadden’s predatory conduct to call us at 212-335-9373’.
Hadden stood accused in a sex-abuse case involving six patients back in 2016 but reached a deal, pleading guilty to two counts of criminal sexual act in the third degree and forcible touching.
He was struck off the medical register but did not serve any time behind bars. He also received no probation or community service.
Though the district attorney’s office will be investigating the new claims, many of the women who have come forward to accuse the disgraced doctor have also slammed the Manhattan District Attorney’s office for failing to come down heavier on the sex offender.
Attorney Anthony DiPietro, who filed a civil suit against Hadden and Columbia University in 2018, said he will add the latest victims to the civil suit, bringing the total number of plaintiffs to about 70.
Two of the victims were children, aged 15 and 16, at the time of the alleged abuse, he said.
One of his accusers, Emilia Heckman, a fashion model in her late 20s at the time, told CNN that Hadden had shown her pictures of his family and made her feel ‘comfortable’ with him when she was his patient.
He soon began making inappropriate questions or comments, such as asking her about her sex life and saying her boyfriend ‘is so lucky to have you’, said Heckman, now 36.
Hadden then sexually assaulted her during an appointment in 2012, she said. Heckman said Hadden told the nurse to go home, leaving her alone with her alleged abuser.
Hadden (pictured outside his home) stood accused in a sex-abuse case involving six patients back in 2016 but reached a deal, pleading guilty to two counts of criminal sexual act in the third degree and forcible touching. He lost his medical licence but served no prison time
One of Hadden’s accusers, Emilia Heckman said he asked inappropriate questions and comments, such as asking her about her sex life and saying her boyfriend ‘is so lucky to have you’
Heckman said she quickly fled Hadden’s practice after he allegedly assaulted her, and she never returned
Hadden allegedly licked Heckman’s genitals, while she had her feet in stirrups and her legs draped for a medical exam.
‘At first it was gloves on, and all of that,’ Heckman said. ‘And then it transitioned to no gloves, a tongue and a beard. … And I recoiled.’
Heckman said she quickly fled and never returned.
Another accuser, Jessica Chambers, now a substitute elementary-school teacher in Wyoming, said she was a 23-year-old student at the City College of New York and had never had a gynecological exam before when she was assaulted by Hadden in 2004.
She said he had started off ‘friendly’ but made her feel uncomfortable as the exam went on for a long time, during which a chaperone was present.
‘He had his fingers inside of me — I couldn’t see if he was wearing gloves,’ she said.
‘And he had an extended conversation with me while he had his fingers inside of me. … I remember wanting to get out of that position.’
Chambers said they talked about how she’d just broken up with her boyfriend and Hadden had asked her if she was able to climax and how.
‘I’m thinking it’s very weird. But he’s a doctor, we’re in Columbia — clearly what’s going on here must be normal and natural,’ she told CNN.
When the chaperone left the room, Hadden grabbed her leg and then began touching her vagina with ungloved hands while telling her how arousal happens.
‘He had me somewhat stuck,’ she said. ‘I didn’t know whether it was just me being naive and I didn’t want to do anything that would be weird.’
Chambers said she came forward after she read about the sexual assault Yang suffered and recognized her abuser as her own.
Yang said she was initially too afraid to tell anyone what had happened.
She said she blamed herself, thinking she must have done something to ‘invite this kind of behavior’.
Months later, after the couple’s son was born, Yang (pictured with her husband in November) got a letter in the mail saying Hadden had left the practice. Curious, she looked him up online and saw that another woman had made a police report accusing him of assaulting her
Another of his accusers, Marissa Hoechstetter was instrumental in having a New York law put in place that allows parents to have the name of a doctor removed from a child’s birth certificate if they lose their medical license
Hoechstetter (pictured with NYC council speaker Corey Johnson) called for Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance to resign for ‘failing to protect victims of sexual assault’ after Hadden reached a plea deal for sexual assault charges in 2016
Months later, after the couple’s son was born, Yang got a letter in the mail saying Hadden had left the practice.
Curious, she looked him up online and saw that another woman had made a police report accusing him of assaulting her.
She said she realized then that she wasn’t to blame for his actions.
‘This was a serial predator, and he just picked me as his prey,’ she said.
She said only then was she able to reveal the alleged abuse to her husband.
Andrew Yang said he was ‘extraordinarily proud’ of his wife and no one deserves to be treated as she was.
‘When victims of abuse come forward, they deserve our belief, support, and protection,’ Andrew Yang said.
‘I hope that Evelyn’s story gives strength to those who have suffered and sends a clear message that our institutions must do more to protect and respond to women.’
He later tweeted: ‘I love my wife very very much.’
Many of the women have come forward have told DiPietro that they feel let down by the justice system’s previous handling of allegations against Hadden.
‘He got something that sounds [more] like an orchestrated retirement than an actual sentence for a serial sexual predator,’ DiPietro said.
In the lawsuit that Yang and 31 other women have against Columbia University, its affiliates and Hadden, they allege that they ‘actively concealed, conspired, and enabled’ the doctor’s crimes, according to CNN.
The lawsuit also claims that medical assistants who worked with the doctor knew of the abuse but didn’t intervene because of a power imbalance and lack of training.
Columbia University and the hospital system are fighting the lawsuit on procedural grounds.
A university spokeswoman told CNN in response to a detailed list of questions that the accusations are ‘abhorrent’ and they ‘deeply apologize to those whose trust was violated’.
Vance has come under fire for failing to protect victims of sexual assault.
Protesters took to the streets of New York in January calling for his resignation, saying Hadden’s plea deal was one in a long list of wealthy, white men getting away with sexual assault.
Vance said in a statement to CNN: ‘Because a conviction is never a guaranteed outcome in a criminal trial, our primary concern was holding him accountable and making sure he could never do this again – which is why we insisted on a felony conviction and permanent surrender of his medical license.’
Hadden has denied the assault allegations in court documents, aside from the two counts in his plea deal.