A doctor already facing accusations he fondled a patient has been charged with inappropriately touching another woman, authorities said.
Dr. Rajat Prakash, of Oak Brook, was charged with one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in the newly reported incident, which happened in November 2011, according to a statement Friday from Oak Lawn police.
Prakash, who will turn 47 on Sunday, appeared in court Thursday, when a judge set bail at $25,000 on the new charge.
The 46-year-old woman filed a police report on Feb. 17 – about three days after he was accused in a separate inappropriate touching incident – claiming the doctor attacked her when they met to discuss her medical information in his sport-utility vehicle in a parking lot in the 10300 block of South Cicero Avenue in Oak Lawn on Nov. 1, 2011, the statement said.
The doctor locked the doors of the SUV and, without consent, touched intimate areas of her body before grabbing her hand and placing it on his genitals, the statement said. She was able to leave the vehicle after the fondling.
On Wednesday, authorities from the Cook County state’s attorney’s office met with police. They re-interviewed the victim and Prakash, of the 200 block of Indian Trail Road in Oak Brook, arrived with his attorney.
He was charged Thursday, according to the statement.
News of a prior inappropriate touching incident broke Feb. 14, when Prakash was charged with one count of misdemeanor battery, stemming from an incident with a 32-year-old female patient, said Oak Lawn Police Division Chief Mike Kaufman at the time.
Police were notified of the incident with the younger woman on Dec. 2, 2011, when the doctor was out of the country.
He turned himself over to police on Feb. 11 and had been suspended from Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, authorities said.
rsobol@tribune.com
Twitter: @RosemarySobol1
