By admin 
A former X-ray technician at a California medical office was sentenced to several months in jail for fondling a patient.
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John Stephen O’Brien, 47, was convicted in July of misdemeanor sexual battery after a weeklong trial.
On May 15, 2024, the victim had gone to the medical office in San Luis Obispo County, California, where O’Brien worked for an X-ray of her back, according to a news release from the District Attorney’s Office. She required assistance tying her medical gown, and after the X-rays were completed, O’Brien offered to untie the gown.
The patient agreed, and as O’Brien untied her gown, he “touched and rubbed her back, kissed her back, pressed his erection against her back, and then reached around the front of her body in an embrace and grabbed and squeezed her breasts twice,” according to the release.
Both in interviews with police and during his trial testimony, O’Brien admitted that he’d grabbed the victims breasts but claimed she had come on to him and that her “movements and body position were an invitation for the sexual touching,” the DA’s release said.
He faced a maximum sentence of six months in SLO County Jail for the crime, but SLO County Superior Court Judge Michael S. Frye ordered O’Brien to serve 120 days in jail followed by a year of probation, the release said. A previous DA’s Office release said his maximum sentence was one year in jail.
He was also ordered to register is a sex offender for at least a decade.
Another alleged victim who testified during the trial to an uncharged 2016 incident, when she claims O’Brien touched her inner thigh during a procedure without her consent, submitted a written statement to be read aloud by a DA’s Office victim advocate at the sentencing hearing.
“What happened to me has affected my life in ways that are difficult to put into words,” the alleged victim’s statement said. “The sexual assault was not just one terrible experience that I could leave behind; it has had an impact on my emotional well-being, my sense of safety, dignity and the way I move through life.”
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“I did not deserve what happened to me, and I am not responsible for Mr. O’Brien’s decision to violate my boundaries and trust,” she added.
Under California evidence law, prior uncharged sexual offenses are admissible as evidence in certain sex crime cases in order to establish a defendant’s propensity to commit such acts.
“Patients place extraordinary trust in medical professionals, and that trust matters most when a patient is in a vulnerable position during treatment,” District Attorney Dan Dow said in the news release. “Both of these women showed real courage: the victim by reporting what happened the very same day, and the prior victim by coming forward to testify about what happened to her years earlier.”
Anyone with information about additional conduct by O’Brien was asked to contact the San Luis Obispo Police Department.
A restitution status determination hearing was set in O’Brien’s case for Nov. 18.
If you or someone you know are a survivor of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673. The hotline offers a range of free services including confidential support from a trained staff member, help finding a local health facility, legal and medical advice and referrals for long-term support.
Survivor support and resources are also available through Lumina Alliance at luminaalliance.org or their Crisis and Information Line at 805-545-8888.
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