A Santa Rosa chiropractor with a history of complaints from women patients faces new sex charges stemming from an office visit late last year in which he's accused of making a woman drop her underwear, then touching her genitals and making sexual comments about her body.
Brian Icke, 52, could be sent to prison for up to eight years if convicted of the two felony charges, which include allegations that he committed sexual battery and genital penetration under the guise of professional treatment.
Icke, who has pleaded not guilty and is free on $140,000 bail, wouldn't comment Wednesday when reached at his Fourth Street office. He referred calls to his lawyer, Chris Andrian, who said it was too soon to discuss details.
"We're still gathering information and trying to see where to go with it," Andrian said.
In addition to criminal charges, state prosecutors are expected to seek sanctions on the chiropractic license Icke has held since 1993. However, earlier this week, Judge Robert LaForge denied a request from the state Attorney General to bar Icke from treating female patients while his case is pending.
All sides are ordered to return to court April 2 for further proceedings.
The charges arose from a Nov. 10 visit to Icke's Fourth Street office from a 60-year-old female patient identified in court papers only as Jane Doe.
While lying on her stomach in a closed examination room, the woman was directed to lower her pants and underwear to her knees and Icke allegedly massaged her inner thigh and touched her genitals, according to the papers filed by the Attorney General.
At some point, he made her roll over and spread her legs, the papers said. Icke then commented about the attractiveness of the patient's genital area and breasts, the papers said.
The woman panicked and fled. As she left, she noticed Icke had an erection, the papers said.
She reported the incident to Santa Rosa police the next day. In a phone call with officers on the line, the woman confronted Icke, who apologized, according to court papers.
He was arrested and charged with two felonies - sexual penetration, and, sexual battery while fraudulently representing the touching served a professional purpose.
Icke has previously been accused of molesting women through his practice.
He was charged with penetration with a foreign object after two women complained about his services in 1999. But he was allowed to plead to lesser charges of false imprisonment and received a 120-day license suspension.
Icke's website says he's been "freeing people from pain since 1993." He boasts of using a "whole person approach" that combines hands-on technique with state-of-the-art physiotherapy procedures.
"The defendant has taken advantage of a position of authority … and has abused the trust of his patients," Deputy Attorney General Char Sachson said in court papers filed Tuesday.
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