By CARL HESSLER Jr. chessler@journalregister.com
COURTHOUSE A former Penn Valley weight loss doctor showed no emotion as a jury convicted him of groping or sexually assaulting five female patients.
Dr. Arie Oren, 66, who operated his Conshohocken Weight Control office in the 100 block of West Third Avenue, was convicted Thursday in Montgomery County Court of four counts of aggravated indecent assault and five counts of indecent assault in connection with the inappropriate contact he had with five women between 2008 and 2010.
These patients all went to him because they wanted help in losing weight. They put their faith and they put their trust in this doctor and he violated and betrayed that trust in the worst way you can imagine, said Assistant District Attorney Jordan Friter, adding the women were searching for quality medical care and instead were violated.
They get isolated alone in an examination room with this guy and he gets them on his examination table and theyre defenseless at that point. He starts to touch them inappropriately and theyre just overcome with fear at that point, Friter added.
Defense lawyers David A. Tornetta and J. David Farrell declined to comment about the verdict.
Oren, of the 500 block of Fairview Road, Lower Merion, did not respond to a reporters questions as he was led from the courtroom in handcuffs for the trip to the county jail.
The victims were not in the courtroom for the verdict.
This has been a long time coming for them. All theyve wanted from the beginning is for this man to be brought to justice. I think theyll be very relieved and very happy to hear the news, said Friter, referring to the victims.
Oren faces a possible maximum sentence of 25-to-50-years in prison on the charges. Friter, who was assisted by co-prosecutor Noah Marlier, vowed to seek a lengthy state prison sentence against Oren. Continued...
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Lower Merion weight-loss doctor Arie Oren found guilty of groping patients (with Video)
