The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is investigating new abuse claims against the former doctor accused by Evelyn Yang and dozens of others of sexual assault.
The office announced it would look into any new allegations made after dozens of women came forward following the CNN interview with the wife of former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang in which she revealed her allegations against former Columbia University obstetrician Robert Hadden.
Anthony DiPiertro, the lead attorney in a 2018 against Hadden and Columbia University, which employed him, told CBS News about 40 women have made allegations. He added that he expects the number of plaintiffs to reach at least 70, after originally having 17 with only one named plaintiff.
The district attorney’s office has assigned incoming Sex Crimes Unit Chief Coleen Balbert and senior prosecutor Mimi Mars to “lead the investigation of any new claims,” Director of Communications Danny Frost said in a statement to The Hill.
“We strongly encourage all survivors of Robert Hadden’s predatory conduct to call us at 212-335-9373,” Frost said. “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.”
Yang told her story while her husband Andrew Yang remained on the campaign trail, saying Hadden sexually assaulted her in a Columbia University affiliated exam room in 2012 during her pregnancy.
Hadden was previously charged with sexually assaulting six women in 2014. In 2016, he took a plea deal, in which he would plead guilty to two individual counts and give up his medical license in exchange for no prison time and to have his sex-offender status reduced to the lowest level. The office also agreed to drop all charges “known to the District Attorney’s Office as of on or before February 22, 2016,” according to CBS News.
Despite the case’s reopening, the first named victim, Marissa Hoechstetter, called for District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s resignation.
“It will not change the ridiculous plea deal they made that excluded me and an untold number of other women from being involved in the original criminal proceedings,” Hoechstetter said, according to CBS News. “I don’t trust them to do what they should do.”
Vance defended the plea agreement in a January statement to CBS News.
“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. While we stand by our legal analysis and resulting disposition of this difficult case, we regret that this resolution has caused survivors pain,” Vance said.
In a statement to The Hill, Columbia University said: “Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our patients. We condemn sexual misconduct in any form and will cooperate fully with any request for information from the District Attorney’s office related to Robert Hadden.”
Updated on Feb. 21 at 9:43 a.m.