Santa Rosa chiropractor, convicted of molesting patients, flees before verdict

A popular Santa Rosa chiropractor was convicted Thursday in absentia of groping eight women patients, including four under the age of 18.

Judge Dana Simonds issued an arrest warrant for Darius Bunyad, 36, formerly of Health Performance Chiropractic, who was not in the courtroom when the verdict was read and had missed a morning check-in with the judge.

The Petaluma resident had been out of custody on $100,000 bail throughout the trial. Jurors began deliberating late Monday and returned guilty verdicts three days later.

He faces about eight years in prison and lifetime sex-offender registration at his sentencing.

His attorney, Richard Scott, said he last saw Bunyad 11 a.m. Wednesday at his law office. Police checked his home Thursday and talked to his father but could not find Bunyad, Scott said.

Scott worried about the possibility he may have taken his own life.

“He’s a very proud person,” Scott said, noting Bunyad once had a thriving practice with 3,000 patients. “I think that as he heard the closing arguments he really felt helpless. Maybe he felt shame about what was being said about him.”

Prosecutors said Bunyad preyed mostly on young, athletic women and teenage girls, grabbing their breasts, buttocks and pubic areas under the guise of providing “whole body” medical treatment.

Many testified at trial that he instructed them to remove their shirts and bras before standing behind them, reaching around to their breasts and adjusting their backs.

Others, including patients who worked part time in his office, questioned his technique but didn’t complain because they trusted him.

Bunyad was arrested in 2015 after police investigated a report from a Cardinal Newman High School counselor who heard a description of the procedure from a student. He did not testify in his own defense.

After about three weeks of testimony, the six-man, six-woman jury convicted Bunyad of crimes covering eight of 10 alleged victims, including six counts of felony sexual battery by fraud and six counts of misdemeanor annoying or molesting a child under 18. The panel found him not guilty of two counts connected to two adult patients.

Jury foreman Jim Wheaton of Sebastopol said he and others had to fight back tears during some victims’ testimony.

He expressed surprise that Bunyad was not in court for the verdict and was considered a fugitive.

“I hope they catch him because I think he’s guilty of these crimes,” said Wheaton, a computer programmer.

“We heard from a lot of Jane Does who are wounded for the rest of their lives. It’s not acceptable.”

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 707-568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. ?On Twitter @ppayne.