Hamilton police confirmed they are also investigating claims against Boyd by four patients and served a search warrant at his office earlier this month. Boyd has not been charged with any crimes.
The four complaints filed with the state chiropractic board allege Boyd touched patients in sexual ways during times he was supposedly providing them with treatment, according to documents obtained by the Journal-News. It’s not clear if the four patients who contacted the state board are the same as those interviewed by Hamilton police.
Boyd has requested a hearing with the state chiropractic board that is scheduled for Feb. 8, 2021.
“We will not be providing a statement at this time,” said Boyd’s attorney, Beth Collis, of Dinsmore & Shohl LLP in Columbus.
A second attorney of record, Jeff Bowling of Hamilton, did not return calls or an email requesting comment. Boyd did not return a message left at his office seeking comment.
The first allegation to the board includes two incidents of inappropriate touching in 1994. Boyd allegedly had the patient fully disrobe and lie face up on a table, and he massaged the patient’s thighs, chest, stomach and genitalia until the patient was sexually aroused. The patient also alleges Boyd’s pants zipper was “askew.”
A second patient alleges Boyd engaged in sexual conduct with him between July 22, 1989 and about Sept. 11, 1993, on at least five occasions at his office or home, according to documents filed with the state chiropractic board. The second patient alleges Boyd instructed him to pull up his shirt and pull his pants and underwear down to his knees or ankles and lie face up. Then Boyd allegedly massaged the patient’s lower abdomen and genitalia until the patient was sexually aroused.
The third allegation occurred between March 2011 and April 2011 involved a minor child, according to documents from the board.
“While patient C was lying on the adjustment table, inappropriately, and without chiropractic need, you massaged patient C with lotion, without gloves close to his genitals on both sides, exposing his genitals as you massaged,” the board documents say.
The fourth allegation from a patient made to the chiropractic board alleges Boyd on two occasions between September 2014 and July 2017 touched his genitalia. Boyd instructed the alleged victim to lie on the table and pull down his shorts and underwear then messaged and touched the man’s genitalia, according to board documents.
Hamilton police told the Journal-News that detectives are conducting a criminal investigation after alleged victims came forward in the past few months. Police served a search warrant at Boyd’s Main Street office on Oct. 16, according to Police Chief Craig Bucheit.
“The Hamilton Police Department has been investigating allegations that Dr. Stephen Charles Boyd engaged in sexual conduct with numerous patients. Throughout this investigation, Det. Barker has interviewed several subjects regarding inappropriate contact that Dr. Stephen Boyd has had with them under the guise of chiropractic treatment, or other medical procedures,” Detective Joe Barker wrote in court documents.
One male told HPD that he had been a patient between 2011 and 2014 and also briefly worked for Boyd. When the alleged victim was about 18 or 19, he began receiving treatment from Boyd for back pain. The man said Boyd instructed him on one occasion to lie on his back on the treatment table and pull down his shorts and underwear.
“Once (the man) had done as instructed, Dr. Boyd allegedly massaged (the man’s) abdominal area, thighs, and eventually moved on to touch and handle (the man’s) genitalia," Barker wrote in court documents.
A female told detectives she went to Boyd for treatment of back pain in 2010 and 2011 when she was 16 or 17. The woman told detectives Boyd took X-rays of her and moved her into a separate treatment room. Boyd instructed her to lie on the treatment table and put his hands through the top of her shorts and began touching and massaging her vaginal area, the woman told detectives.
Another alleged victim told police he was a patient of Boyd’s between 2011 and 2012. The man said he went to Boyd for an examination when he was 16 so that he could participate in athletics. Boyd told him to put on gown, took X-rays, pulled down the man’s shorts and underwear and placed his hands on the alleged victim’s penis for approximately two minutes, according to court documents.
The last alleged victim interviewed by the detective said he was treated by Boyd between 2008 and 2012 when he was age 14 to 18. On three occasions, Boyd asked the alleged male victim to come to the office after hours.
That victim said Boyd on one occasion told him to remove his shorts and underwear and lie on the treatment table. Boyd massaged the teen’s knee then moved up the leg to the thigh and to the genitalia until the victim was sexually aroused, according to documents.
The detective interviewed former employees of Boyd who said the doctor took X-rays of patients’ genitalia, according to the affidavit for a search warrant.
“Multiple employees have alluded to the fact that Dr. Boyd would regularly have patients change into very thin gowns in order to take X-rays of the patients The employees advised that these X-rays often would show the outline of the patient’s genitalia, and that there were no specific items/tools used to shield or prevent the genitalia from being exposed on the x-ray images,” Baker wrote in the court document.
The detective said one former employee suggested Boyd purposely lowered the machine to include the genitalia in the X-ray image.
Police seized a desktop computer, an iPhone, numerous X-rays from the past 30-plus years, a box of Polaroid photos, two canisters of film, medical records for the alleged victims and five electronic hard drives.
Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said he is aware of the criminal investigation.
“What was seized by police in the search warrant has to be assessed, analyzed and we will then be working toward the consideration of a presentation to a grand jury if we make an assessment that a crime may have been committed,” Gmoser told the Journal-News.
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