Psychiatrist facing 4 new molest counts - Prosecutors add 2 more alleged victims bringing total to 5 in sex abuse case

Via the San Francisco Chronicle

San Mateo County prosecutors brought four new child molestation charges Thursday against a former head of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry who allegedly molested boys in his office under the guise of giving them medical exams.

Dr. William Ayres, 75, is now charged with sexually abusing five former patients from 1988 to 1996, after prosecutors added two alleged victims to the criminal complaint against him Thursday.

Ayres, who received scores of patient referrals from the county's juvenile justice system, used his position to victimize vulnerable and troubled boys, knowing they would be hesitant to come forward and probably wouldn't be believed if they did, prosecutor Melissa McKowan said.

"The people least likely to report (sexual abuse) ... are teenage boys who have been sent to a psychiatrist," McKowan said. She called the now-retired psychiatrist typical of "very smart" pedophiles who maneuver themselves into positions of trust to prey on children.

At least 30 men have accused Ayres of molesting them as boys dating to 1969, according to prosecutors and police reports. Charges could not be brought in some of the cases because they fall outside the statute of limitations, prosecutors said.

California law requires that molestation charges be brought before the accuser turns 29 or that the alleged crime occurred after Jan. 1, 1988.

McKowan said possible victims have been calling authorities daily since Ayres was arrested last week at his San Mateo home. Among them were the two whose accusations were the basis for the new charges filed Thursday.

One said Ayres molested him twice from 1988 to 1989, starting when the alleged victim was 8 years old, according to court documents. The other accused Ayres of molesting him twice from 1989 to 1990, starting when he was 11 years old, the charges show.

Ayres is now accused of 18 counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14. The three accusers cited in the original criminal complaint last week said they were 9, 11 and 12 years old, respectively, when the psychiatrist allegedly masturbated them during office visits.

Ayres, who has not yet hired an attorney, did not enter a plea during a brief appearance in a Redwood City courtroom Thursday when the new charges were filed.

Philip Barnett, an attorney who appeared for Ayres during the hearing, declined to comment as he left the courtroom.

Ayres is scheduled to appear again in court today as prosecutors seek to increase his bail to $1.8 million. He is now free; his wife posted $250,000 in cash bail on Monday.