Paige Gross
A former neurologist who practiced in Hopewell Township has been indicted on 15 counts of sexual assault charges accusing him of abusing seven female patients over a two-year span, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s office said Thursday.
Ricardo Cruciani, 63, is charged with eight counts of second-degree sexual assault and seven counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact for assaulting women while he was a chief neuroscientist at Capital Health’s Institute of Neurosciences.
The institute is based at Capital Health Medical Center-Hopewell.
Cruciani has also pleaded guilty to groping women at a Philadelphia clinic in late 2017, and faces additional charges for repeatedly raping a patient over the course of eight years in New York City, and sexually assaulting others.
The Mercer prosecutor’s office said some of the women who came forward in New Jersey were emboldened to do so after reading about his guilty plea in Philadelphia.
The indictments allege acts of sexual assault and touching by use of physical force or coercion.
Some of the women involved in the New Jersey case against Cruciani were also women involved in the New York and Pennsylvania cases, the Mercer prosecutor’s office said.
The Associated Press previously reported that at least 17 women in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey have accused Cruciani of sexual misconduct over 12 years.
Cruciani, who specialized in rare, complicated syndromes that produce debilitating pain, had his medical license revoked in late 2017. He worked at Capital Health’s Hopewell campus until late 2015.
“We are deeply disturbed by these allegations and began investigating them as soon as we became aware of them through media reports,” a Capital Health spokesperson said in an email.
The statement said the hospital found no evidence of complaints of sexual misconduct against Cruciani, and are “committed to investigating all complaints brought forth by patients or our staff.”
Cruciani’s lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
