A prominent doctor sexually assaulted a woman in his Manhattan apartment after he threatened her with a loaded gun, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
The doctor, Maurizio Miglietta, 56, was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on charges of first-degree rape, first-degree attempted rape, sexual abuse and criminal possession of a firearm.
He is an honorary police surgeon for the Police Department, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office. Police records show he never actually was called on by the department.
Prosecutors charge that on June 5, Dr. Miglietta invited a 28-year-old woman he had met at a medical networking event to his apartment in the financial district to discuss “professional goals.”
Soon after her arrival, he kissed her, prosecutors said. When she tried to move away, he straddled her with his legs to keep her in place.
“She attempted to push him away, but he lifted his shirt and showed that he had a firearm in the holster, telling her to ‘watch out for this,’” Candace White, an assistant district attorney, said during his arraignment on Tuesday. “She was terrified,” Ms. White said.
Dr. Miglietta placed the gun on the coffee table and forced the woman to perform oral sex on him, and then tried to penetrate her, Ms. White said. “The complainant asked him to stop, asked him to let her leave, but the defendant refused and the sexual assault continued,” she said.
Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, said after the arraignment that the alleged behavior was “beyond disturbing.”
“You see a power imbalance that we allege was exploited,” he said.
Dr. Miglietta, who serves as a regional dean and professor of surgery at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in Harlem, has taught and practiced medicine at numerous hospitals in New York and New Jersey. The college did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
He has served as chief of the trauma and critical care division at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine and as the director of trauma and co-director of the surgical intensive care unit at Bellevue Hospital’s trauma center, as well as chief of acute care surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia, according to online biographies.
During his arrest in Manhattan, he told the authorities that he was “a special agent affiliated with law enforcement” and had two firearms in his possession, Ms. White said. Prosecutors added that Dr. Miglietta had 10 firearms registered in New Jersey, but none registered in New York State.
His lawyer, John Esposito, entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of his client. Dr. Miglietta, dressed in jeans, a navy sweater and brown boots, was escorted into the courtroom by two detectives, his hands cuffed behind his back. He kept his head down during most of the proceedings.
Mr. Esposito said his client was a practicing surgeon with the U.S. Marshals Service, which allows him to have a gun. “He’s adamantly denying these charges,” Mr. Esposito said to reporters after the hearing. “He’s probably the most prominent person working as a surgeon for law enforcement, and there’s no basis for these charges.”
Justice Ann Thompson set bail at $1 million cash or a $3 million partially secured bond, and ordered that Dr. Miglietta, who also has a home in Point Pleasant, N.J., be electronically monitored and surrender his firearms and his passport.
He faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison if convicted.
Chelsia Rose Marcius contributed reporting.
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