Tyndall pleads not guilty to new charges


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Former campus gynecologist George Tyndall has pleaded not guilty to the six new felony charges brought against him earlier this month. The charges, issued by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office July 9, include five counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person and one count of sexual battery by fraud.

“Dr. Tyndall takes all these charges seriously, but he remains adamant that [after] all the evidence is presented in a court of law and allegations are tested by cross examination, he will be totally exonerated,” Leonard Levine, Tyndall’s attorney, told the Daily Trojan. 

Tyndall had also pleaded not guilty to 29 previous felonious charges: 18 counts of sexual assault and 11 counts of sexual battery. If convicted of all 35 charges, Tyndall faces a maximum sentence of 64 years in prison.

Friday’s arraignment hearing follows the $215-million class-action settlement an L.A. federal judge approved in January, which requires the University to compensate the more than 18,000 former patients Tyndall saw over his 28-year tenure as a doctor at Student Health. 

More than 600 lawsuits have been filed against the University to date, alleging that it failed to protect its students from assault and that it covered up accusations against Tyndall when it offered him a termination package with a payout of undisclosed value in exchange for his quiet resignation. 

A 2018 Los Angeles Times investigation that revealed Tyndall’s alleged misconduct also found that the University had failed to immediately report him to the Medical Board of California. Tyndall’s medical license was not surrendered until nearly three months after his arrest in June 2019, although it was temporarily suspended in August 2018 following the release of the L.A. Times’ report. 

The University declined to issue a statement on Tyndall’s plea, citing its policy of not commenting on ongoing criminal investigations.

A judge will determine whether sufficient evidence exists to proceed with the case and try Tyndall for the charges against him at his preliminary hearing, scheduled for Sept. 25.

Raymond Rapada contributed to this report.