DISCIPLINE

“Why does he get two letters?” she asked. “How come nothing’s done?”

The 45-year-old Smith, a Delaware resident who has practiced at Synergy Chiropractic Wellness Clinic in Clintonville, has been charged by Columbus police with 35 counts of misdemeanor sexual imposition involving eight patients. He is accused of massaging their breasts during treatments; six of them also allege that he positioned himself so that their hands would come into contact with his groin.

Smith is scheduled for an April 5 hearing in Franklin County Municipal Court. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.

The Worthington woman said she contacted police in December after learning that the board would not suspend Smith’s license over the early-2017 incidents. The Dispatch does not report the names of alleged victims of sex crimes.

Smith’s attorney, Sam Shamansky, called the charges Tuesday “innuendo and bald-faced accusations.”

“He’s not a sexual predator, he’s guilty of nothing, and he’s going to vigorously defend these charges in court,” Shamansky said.

The Worthington accuser said she filed an online complaint with the board last summer and was interviewed by an investigator. She expected there would be a hearing, but there wasn’t. She eventually discovered that a consent agreement had been reached. Part of the agreement, which she said refers to her complaint, says that Smith failed to explain the necessity of a procedure that involved contact with the breast and that he failed to offer to have a third party present.

“I was livid,” she said. “My assumption was that (the board’s) job was to keep medical professionals in check so they can’t do these things. ... They failed that miserably.”

Kendra Lindsey, a paralegal at the board, said the disciplinary action that resulted in the consent agreement followed the law and “was based upon the facts and circumstances in that particular case at that particular time.”

The board has the authority to hand down sanctions ranging from reprimand to license revocation, Lindsey said.

Since the November agreement, the board has issued a notice with allegations that Smith had massaged a woman’s breasts and pressed his erect penis against her back during treatments in 2014. That document lists 10 counts, including gross immorality and gross misconduct. A hearing date is pending.

A 24-year-old former Ohio State student who said she filed that complaint tried to research Smith through the Chiropractic Board in 2014 but found nothing public. She said she is upset that the board did not act sooner.

“Now I am a physical therapist,” she said. “Now I know that is completely a sham treatment.”