Second woman testifies against Palatine physician's assistant
The second day of Alejandro Sanchez's trial on charges that he sexually molested a female patient at a Palatine clinic began Tuesday with testimony from another woman who said the licensed physician's assistant abused her in a similar manner.
The 29-year-old woman who testified Tuesday said her exam in December of 2007 went on longer than usual and felt “completely different” from any she had previously experienced. She said that after the exam concluded Sanchez, 51, gave her a hug and kissed her cheek, something that no other medical practitioner had ever done.
She said she felt disgusted and ashamed but that she never told the police, although she did tell her boyfriend and her mother.
The woman went to police in 2010 after learning that another woman, now 41, had accused the Vista Health Center employee of molesting her during an exam on Oct. 8, 2010.
Sanchez, of Berwyn, faces aggravated criminal sexual abuse charges related to the 2010 exam during which prosecutors say he molested his accuser and tried to use a cellphone to photograph her breast. That woman testified Monday that Sanchez's examination made her uncomfortable and that she believed he photographed her. She immediately told a Vista nurse and the clinic's lead physician, Dr. Yolanda Escalona, who testified that she found no images of the woman on Sanchez's phone.
Testimony resumes Oct. 11 in Rolling Meadows.