Las Cruces doctor accused of kidnapping allegedly fondled patient, asked if patient was ‘gay’
ABC-7 is learning more about the Las Cruces doctor accused of inappropriately touching two patients.
According to court documents, in June, a victim told police Dr. Robert Woody allegedly locked the door during an exam and fondled him. He also allegedly kissed his neck multiple times and “told him that he loved him”.
The victim also stated that Woody began asking personal and inappropriate questions like, “are you gay?”. The patient said he told Woody he was not gay and claims the doctor said “we will see” under his breath.
The 62-year-old neurologist was indicted by a grand jury Thursday on felony counts of kidnapping related to incidents involving the patients.
Woody resides in Chaparral, N.M., but has a medical practice in Las Cruces, was charged with two counts of kidnapping with the intent to commit a sexual offense and one count of criminal sexual contact. The kidnapping charges are first-degree felony counts while the criminal sexual contact charge is a misdemeanor.
Both kidnapping charges are the result of incidents involving adult men who had medical appointments with Dr. Woody at his Las Cruces office.
ABC-7 called Woody’s office on Tuesday but he was not available for comment.
Las Cruces Police detectives said one of the incidents occurred in June 2015 while the other transpired in June 2013. In both incidents, Dr. Woody is alleged to have asked the men explicit questions about their sexual preferences before fondling the patients during examinations behind closed doors.
Detectives learned that Dr. Woody had a telephone conversation with one of the patients a few days after his visit in which the doctor allegedly apologized for his behavior.
Following the grand jury indictment, a criminal summons was issued that orders Dr. Woody to appear in District Court on March 28.
Anyone with similar claims of inappropriate behavior by Dr. Woody, or any other medical professional, is asked to contact police at (575) 526-0795.
