A Palo Alto resident who practices medicine in San Jose has been charged with sexual assault in what investigators said are a series of incidents that included alleged lewd acts on girls and an assault on a woman, Palo Alto police said Thursday.
Naeem Ulislam Hashmi, 61, practices at San Jose's Crescent Medical Center. He was initially arrested in December at his Palo Alto home without incident after an investigation uncovered alleged lewd acts on children that occurred 15 years ago, police said.
A follow-up investigation led police to a more recent case involving a woman who reported she was sexually assaulted by Hashmi. A new sexual assault charge was later filed against him by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. Police suspect there might be additional victims who may not have previously come forward, they said.
Detectives opened the initial investigation in August after they received allegations of child sexual abuse case that occurred in 2007. A woman in her 20s reported Hashmi sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions when she was 12 and 13 years old. Hashmi allegedly assaulted another girl who was friends with her around the same time, police said.
Neither child was a patient of Hashmi. He knew them through community and family connections. One of the incidents was for an assault he allegedly committed on one of the two girls while she volunteered at his medical office, police said.
The District Attorney’s Office filed charges against Hashmi in December for four felony counts of lewd acts on a child under age 14, and a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge signed a warrant for his arrest. Police took him into custody on Dec. 21.
The latest charges, which were filed June 1, involved a woman then in her 40s who was employed by Hashmi. He allegedly sexually assaulted her while they were both working in his medical office in San Jose. Hashmi now faces a felony charge of sexual penetration by force related to that incident.
His criminal case for all five charges is currently in progress in Santa Clara County Superior Court, police said. Additional people who might have been victimized by Hashmi are asked to contact the Palo Alto police.
Anyone with information about these incidents or Hashmi is asked to call the department's 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be emailed to [email protected] or sent by text message or voicemail to 650-383-8984.
Comments
There are no comments yet. Please share yours below.