Conway doctor's sex-case accusers rise to 13

For Rook, counts of rape now at 10

Dr. Robert Rook
Dr. Robert Rook

CONWAY -- A special prosecutor filed more rape and sexual-assault charges against a Conway physician Thursday, accusing him of illegal conduct with a total of 13 female patients.

Dr. Robert Rook, 61, originally was charged with three counts each of rape and sexual assault, involving two patients. He now is charged with 10 counts of rape, 10 counts of second-degree sexual assault and one count of third-degree sexual assault involving a total of 13 women, including the first two.

Another arrest warrant was issued Thursday for Rook, who was free on bond after his initial arrest. As of early evening, information about him did not appear on an online list of current or released Faulkner County jail inmates, suggesting he had not been taken into custody yet.

The new charges, filed in circuit court by special prosecutor D. Jason Barrett, came the same week that Rook's attorney, Patrick Benca, filed a motion asking to suppress evidence that Benca said was obtained as a result of an unlawful arrest and an "improper interrogation" of Rook.

[DOCUMENT: Click here to read the warrant and probable cause affidavit.]

Benca called the timing of the new charges "disappointing," since the suppression motion is pending and could come up at a pretrial hearing Monday.

"Unfortunately, Defendants have no control over a prosecutor's discretion to file charges. There is no grand jury system in state proceedings," Benca said in a text message.

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The Arkansas State Medical Board had voted to suspend Rook's license in June. In August, the board lifted the suspension after its attorney, Kevin O'Dwyer, said he had been unable to find out the names of Rook's accusers or to ask them to testify. Rook must have a chaperone present when he treats patients under the August decision.

O'Dwyer was in a hearing Thursday and could not be reached for comment about whether the board would revisit the license issue.

A police affidavit filed with the amended charges Thursday indicated that the accusers were of various ages. One woman said she turned 18 on the October 2015 day she saw Rook for treatment of acne. Another woman with a history of psychosis was older than 65.

According to the affidavit, more than one patient spoke of the ease with which they said Rook prescribed narcotics, including opioids. One woman, for instance, said he had prescribed her hydrocodone, Xanax, an anti-depressant and Adderall, a drug used to treat attention-deficit (hyperactivity) disorder and a sleep disorder.

Many women came forward after reading about Rook's first arrest, the affidavit indicates. One patient talked with police after she told another physician about her alleged ordeal, and that physician contacted authorities.

The affidavit reflects repeated accounts of patients accusing Rook of fondling their breasts in the guise of breast examinations and feeling their vaginal and other areas, sometimes purportedly for PAP smears and sometimes without the gloves doctors normally wear for such exams -- "skin on skin," one patient said. That same patient told police that Rook had told her he would wean her off Tramadol, a narcoticlike pain reliever, and put her on methadone, an opioid that can treat withdrawal symptoms for people with heroin or other narcotic addictions.

Women said he had them disrobe after a nurse had left the room and he had locked the door.

One patient told police that Rook gave her 60 pills of the addictive hydrocodone because of a nerve problem in an injured hand. The woman "said she knew then that she would be able to get anything she wanted as far as the medicines went," the affidavit related. She kept only the anxiety medicines he prescribed for her and sold the rest, she told police.

By some point, the woman said, Rook was prescribing her the opioid Percocet, hydrocodone, Xanax, oxycodone, Adderall, Ritalin and other drugs.

"She said she did not need the medicines but that she was desperate. She said she was homeless and needed the money to survive. She said she had a criminal past and had difficulty finding employment," the affidavit said.

At one point, she told police, the doctor made it clear to her he wanted oral sex. She said she told him she wanted to participate but she had to take her mother to the doctor. "She said he told her that they could reschedule for the following week," the affidavit said.

State Desk on 09/23/2016

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