Convicted OB/GYN Robert Hadden faces 20 years, judge indicates as sentencing gets pushed back
NEW YORK — Robert Hadden’s sentencing was adjourned Monday after a lengthy day of arguments, in which a judge indicated he was planning to sentence the disgraced ex-Columbia University gynecologist to 20 years.
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman pushed back the proceeding due to outstanding objections from both sides, making Hadden’s sentencing a three-day affair. It started on June 28 when Berman invited victims to address the court.
“The nature and circumstances factor overwhelmingly in my opinion supporting an upward variance of 20 years,” the judge said, noting Hadden hadn’t “remotely” addressed his problems.
“Hadden continues to prove a clear danger to others, especially women.”
Hadden, 64, of Englewood, N.J., was convicted by a Manhattan federal court jury in January on charges alleging he enticed four women from out of state to abuse at facilities affiliated with Columbia’s medical practice and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
Describing Hadden as a “career sexual predator who has been able to avoid detection for decades,” Manhattan Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane Kim said he should face a minimum of 25 years in prison.
In their case, prosecutors included evidence from 79 of his former patients — including nine who testified in court — and said they had counted at least 245 women across all of his criminal and civil cases who say they were assaulted, abused and molested during his medical exams. Scores more have come forward in other matters.
“The scope is staggering,” Kim said.
Hadden — sitting with his arms crossed and head down in beige prison clothing — wants to go to Otisville, New York’s white-collar federal prison facility, or Devens in Massachusetts, which has a sex offender treatment program, according to his federal public defender, Deirdre von Dornum.
She asked the judge to impose a three-year sentence, noting that he cares for his heavily disabled son and wife, who uses a wheelchair. She argued that Hadden hadn’t been accused of committing a crime in the 11 years since his arrest for licking a patient’s vagina during an exam.
“He was arrested and taken out of the context. He resigned his position and went on medical leave,” von Dornum said. “There’s 11 more years of no conduct at all. And I understand that you’re faulting him for not having stopped sooner, and that’s why he was convicted in the state (case).”
Two years after his arrest, the Manhattan district attorney brought charges against Hadden, alleging he abused six of his former patients, including by fondling and licking them during medical appointments. In 2016, the DA offered Hadden a plea deal allowing him to admit to harming just two women without serving jail time. The feds brought their case in 2020.
Hadden is due back in court at 11 a.m. Tuesday. Berman’s comments in court did not represent an official ruling.
