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TagsBY ALICIA CRUZ
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
An Essex County grand jury returned a guilty verdict April 25 against a Randolph doctor arrested twice in August 2007 for sexually abusing 16 patients at his Bloomfield medical office, the Essex County Prosecutor's office announced.
The grand jury found Dr. Raymond Russomanno guilty on four counts of criminal sexual contact, and not guilty of on two counts of attempted sexual assault and seven additional counts of criminal sexual contact against one victim.
His reign of sexual abuse upon patients ended with his August 20, 2007 arrest. At that time, investigators charged the doctor with one count of 2nd degree attempted sexual assault and 12 counts of 4th degree criminal sexual contact involving a 27 year-old female patient from Bloomfield.
Complaints by nine additional patients led to Russomanno’s second arrest a week later. By 2008, a grand jury returned a 51-count indictment against the Internist charging him with second-degree sexual assault, second-degree attempted sexual assault, and fourth-degree criminal sexual contact, Baristanet.com reported.
In all, 16 victims from Belleville, Kearny, Lyndhurst, Montclair, Jersey City, Bloomfield and East Orange, have accused the doctor of engaging in inappropriate sexual conduct during medical visits between 2003 and 2007.
According to a press release issued by Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray, the case involving a 27-year-old female patient was tried separately because it was the only case involving a videotape. Investigators scheduled two visits to the medical office in order to videotape the doctor.
The state plans to try Russomanno involving the remaining 15 victims after his June 6 sentencing, said Acting First Assistant Prosecutor Robert Laurino, who added that the state was happy about the guilty verdict because it meant Russomanno would never be able to practice medicine again.
The Honorable Joseph Cassini, 3rd, presided over the trial. Essex county prosecutor Paula Dow credited the work of detectives Janine Straccamore of the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and John Sierchio of Bloomfield Police Department during the investigation.
