The sentence was two years shy of the maximum term sought by prosecutors, who maintained that year-old doctor had for years sexually assaulted elderly, seriously ill women during visits to their homes. Attorney Scott Paccagnini said. Dehaan said he had been unable to fully address the accusations because of pending criminal charges involving four former patients, and more than a dozen civil lawsuits. Dehaan, who pleaded guilty only to two counts of fraud related to two male patients who had made no allegations of sexual assault, maintained the accusations against him are false.
Dressed in a faded Winnebago County Jail jumpsuit, Dehaan had watched intently — and occasionally heaved a sigh — Thursday as his wife, daughter, sister and two close friends took the stand to testify as character witnesses. They described him as a deeply Christian man who for years hosted bible study groups at his house and considered his work as home-care doctor to be a spiritual calling.
As he had during a series of hearings dating back to last fall, U. District Judge Frederick Kapala noted Thursday that Dehaan was not being sentenced for sexual assault, but for billing Medicare for services he never performed.
Kapala noted that Dehaan faces more prison time on criminal cases now pending in Cook and Winnebago counties, where Dehaan is charged with sexual assaults cases involving a total of four former patients. Any prison time Dehaan gets for those charges would be served only after he completes his nine-year federal sentence.
Dehaan had been charged with 23 counts of fraud, including charges related to billing Medicare for appointments with clients who claim Dehaan groped them, masturbated in front of them or performed sex acts on them.
