A former medical resident at the University of Cincinnati, Rudel Saunders, has been handed a sentence for practicing medicine without a valid license. According to a judge on Thursday, Saunders will spend 180 days at the Hamilton County Justice Center, followed by a five-year community control order. During this period, he must remain employed, avoid any contact with the victims, and pay a $1,000 fine, as reported by FOX19.
The charges against Saunders stem from incidents in 2022 when he reportedly invited men over to his apartment to conduct ultrasounds on their genitals in his bedroom. He was accused of recording these exams without the patients' consent. Court documents revealed that Saunders presented himself as "just a new doctor" and claimed to need to complete 100 ultrasounds for training, as detailed by Local 12.
During the trial, Saunders was acquitted of related misdemeanor charges, such as sexual imposition and voyeurism. However, in August, he was found guilty on two low-level felony charges for the unlicensed practice of medicine, according to WLWT. The prosecutors argued that Saunders did not have clinical privileges to operate independently without supervision.
Investigators uncovered that several men were lured to Saunders' bedroom for the ultrasounds, and most were videotaped secretly during the encounters. Saunders had previously defended his actions to a state medical board as educational. However, prosecutors contended that, sans the necessary clinical privileges, his unsupervised practice was unlawful.
