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Alex Cabrero Reporting A Utah County doctor has been charged with doing things no doctor should ever do. He sexually abused several patients, according to investigators, for the past several years.
His license was suspended last year, but the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing gave it back.
Dr. Larry Andrew, a fertility specialist in Springville, was charged today with 21 counts of forcible sexual abuse. Police say they have at least 10 victims who've come forward, but even still, many of his other patients claim he's a miracle worker.
Cindy Wilkerson: "He's really helped us quite a bit."
Cindy Wilkerson always wanted children, and thanks to Dr. Larry Andrew, she finally has her family.
Cindy Wilkerson: "He helped us so we were able to conceive our first child and our twins."
It's a story like many stories that have come out of Dr. Andrew's Springville infertility clinic, but police say there are other stories that just downright bother them.
Lt. Dave Caron: "There are some things that were done, and as I saw and listened to the interviews and as I read the officers' investigation, I just shook my head."
That's because investigators say Dr. Andrews sexually abused almost a dozen of his patients, doing things in exam rooms that should never be done.
Dave Caron: "It's a type of procedure where obviously you're dealing wth very sensitive things anyway."
Maybe saddest of all, when you're dealing with an issue like infertility, it all comes down to an issue of trust, trusting your doctor. And police say in this case, that trust was broken.
Dave Caron: "It's really a tragedy. What you have is a number of women who are anxious to have a baby. They just want to have children."
Wilkerson knows the feeling, but she also knows Dr. Andrew and can't imagine him doing anything like what he's being accused of.
Cindy Wilkerson: "Never never. He's always had a nurse in there with him. He doesn't come into the office unless he has a nurse inside with him or unless a nurse is already in the room."
We left several messages with Dr. Andrews at his office and his home, as well as with his attorney Peter Stirba. However, we haven't received any calls back.
He was served with his papers today, and is expected to appear in court next week. The Utah Division of Professional Licensing or DOPL has the power to issue and revoke doctors' licenses.
As of 2005, 7500 licensed doctors worked in Utah. Last year DOPL received complaints about 377 of them. Two dozen physicians are on probation.
The main reason, a doctor loses his or her license is illegally prescribing controlled substances. Other reasons for discipline are substance abuse by doctors and sexual misconduct.
