Trove of nude images of women found in ex-USC gynecologist’s SoCal storage unit
LOS ANGELES — Shortly after Los Angeles police launched an investigation into Dr. George Tyndall last spring, a team of detectives began surreptitiously following the former University of Southern California gynecologist.
The 71-year-old passed most of his days inside a condominium he owns near Lafayette Park, but on at least two occasions, Tyndall drove to a self-storage facility and spent time inside a rental unit, police said.
When investigators subsequently raided the unit, they found a trove of homemade pornography and a smaller set of photos of unclothed women in what appeared to be a medical exam room, according to LAPD Capt. Billy Hayes.
Those images have become part of the investigation into whether Tyndall sexually abused hundreds of students over his three-decade career at USC’s student health center. Detectives are trying to determine whether the pictures show patients at campus clinic appointments, and are working to establish the identities of the women.
That effort has complicated an already sprawling investigation. With 234 women filing police reports against Tyndall, the probe is believed to be the largest sex crimes investigation involving an individual in LAPD history. A dozen robbery-homicide detectives are traveling the country to interview former patients, and forensic examiners are poring over Tyndall’s computer hard drives and other evidence seized from his residence and storage unit.
Tyndall’s lawyer, Leonard Levine, declined to answer questions about the photos from the storage unit. In a statement, he wrote that the doctor maintained his innocence, saying, “Dr. Tyndall is adamant that he has never sold, traded or shared any images of patients he examined while conducting medical examinations at USC.”
For women who have accused Tyndall of inappropriate touching or suggestive remarks, the photos raise the specter of a new and profound violation at a time when many were finalizing legal settlements with USC.
“The photographs are compromising,” said Hayes, who is supervising the police probe.
Police do not regard possession of the photos as a crime in itself, Hayes said, but believe the location where they were found is relevant to the larger case.
As they track down the provenance of the photos, detectives are calling on both alumnae and USC employees to dig deep in their memories, asking about the color scheme of exam rooms and identifying features on their bodies, such as tattoos.
The doctor has insisted that he never had sexual thoughts about patients and his use of a camera in the exam room was for legitimate medical purposes.
“He’s telling these young ladies that he is taking photographs for a study,” Hayes said. “If they are ... in his storage facility, it doesn’t give credence to his statements to them that he was using (the photos) for research or to publish studies.”
Detectives have interviewed at least 117 women so far and presented the cases of 85 to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s sex crimes unit for possible charges against the doctor. A grand jury is hearing evidence about Tyndall. It has yet to issue any indictments.
It is unclear whether the grand jury is evaluating the evidence seized from the storage unit. Most of the material was videos and photos showing women without a known connection to the university, sometimes having sex with Tyndall. The images appear to span a period of at least three decades, Hayes said.
Tyndall and his estranged wife ran a boudoir photography business called Glamourlight in the 1990s and 2000s. Police have not determined whether some of the images uncovered relate to that photo firm.