Suspended after sexual assault accusation, a Florida doctor now faces 16 criminal charges
A Sarasota doctor successfully fought his suspension after a patient accused him of molestation. But media reports about Thomas Lohstreter’s present brought forth patients from his past, according to arrest reports.
Now, the 70-year-old Lohstreter is charged with two counts of sexual assault, lewd and lascivious molestation of a disabled patient, four counts of sexual battery without force, and 10 counts of misdemeanor battery. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
And last Wednesday, the woman who made the original molestation accusation filed a civil lawsuit in Sarasota County against Lohstreter.
“Dr. Lohstreter absolutely denies the allegations that he ever inappropriately touched any of his patients and looks forward to clearing his name in a court of law,” his defense attorney, Peter Collins, said in an email to the Miami Herald.
One woman’s accusation got Lohstreter suspended. Although 16 patients legally have accused Lohstreter of more of the same, he can still see patients. But only male patients.
That’s from the emergency restriction put on Lohstreter’s license in August by the state of Florida. This all started in December 2019 with a patient’s reaction to her visit to South County Medical Center-MCR Health in Englewood.
Suspension and initial investigation
The undesired breast and genital touching that Patient No. 1 claimed Lohstreter subjected her to on Dec. 23, 2019, was detailed in a March 12 Miami Herald story on his March 9 emergency suspension. The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office later said it began an investigation after she contacted the agency.
Investigators found Patient No. 2, who said in both a November “new patient” visit and a December visit to draw blood and deal with an upper respiratory infection, Lohstreter had her pull down her pants and underwear once the nurse left the room. He focused on a pubic-area mole both times, she said, the second time exposing her genitals.
On March 16, Lohstreter filed a motion with the state to stay the suspension. While granting that, the state still required there be “a licensed healthcare professional present for all interactions with patients.”
This was Lohstreter’s first piece of Florida discipline. But he had violated professional ethics in Minnesota, where he was a doctor for at least 27 years before getting his Florida license in 2017.
As stated in this Minnesota Board of Medical Pracitce Stipulation and Order from 2013, Lohstreter admitted prescribing Xanax for a relative with substance abuse problems. The relative died from a fatal cocktail: Xanax, alcohol, opiates and Zoloft. The board found Lohstreter dished out pain prescriptions on just the claim of pain, no examinations done, at least four times.
The Board’s punishment for Lohstreter included an official reprimand, a $2,040 fine and a two-year limit on his license.
Patient No. 1’s lawsuit, filed for her by Morgan & Morgan, asks for damages for “extreme mental anguish and emotional distress.”
First arrest
Patient No. 3 said Lohstreter put his fingers inside her genitals during Dec. 12 and Jan. 28 visits to address pain and psoriasis. After the second visit, she said she sat in her car and cried.
Patient No. 4 said she “emotionally shut down during the exam,” then wept after her husband picked her up to take her home from a March 2 exam. The first time she saw Lostreter without her husband present, Patient No. 4 said, he pulled up her shirt and bra, pulled her lower bodywear past her hips and began “groping and playing with my nipples.”
Each went to the sheriff’s office after an online search about Lohstreter turned up the Miami Herald article on his suspension.
Patient No. 4 got a weird feeling March 17 when the office told her Lohstreter was “out on leave.” During a Nov. 19 procedure in the office, Patient No. 4 said, Lohstreter touched her clitoris and afterward, leaned his face close to her exposed genitals with “I’m so sorry. I know I hurt you very badly. I am going to take care of you.”
She called Sarasota sheriff’s office. According to SCSO, these were five of six women who experienced Lohstreter’s touching beyond the scope of medical care.
Lohstreter’s May 5 arrest made the local TV news. And the audience included more women with something to say.
Second arrest
Lohstreter posted $70,000 bond in two days. In another seven days, six more women rose up to tell SCSO of inappropriate, sexually abusive behavior by Lohstreter. One woman said her mother wasn’t allowed in the exam room. Another said Lohstreter fondled her breasts after not allowing her husband in the exam room with her.
According to the probable cause affidavits, each hesitated to report Lohstreter because, until his arrest, they thought no one would believe them.
Lohstreter wound up back in jail on June 1. Local TV news covered that arrest also.
And more women were watching.
Third arrest
Lohstreter again posted bond, $29,000 and in one day this time. Four more women came forward in the three days after Lohstreter’s second arrest.
One woman said during an internal gynecological exam he insisted on giving, Lohstreter touched her clitoris and said “This should be your spot. Can you feel this?” His breast exam, she said, felt more like groping than any breast exam she’d had before.
She said she told her husband immediately afterward how uncomfortable she felt during the exam and, “I just got a PAP smear and I have no idea why.”
Another woman said after groping her breast and pulling a nipple during an Oct. 31 visit, Lohstreter wrote her a prescription for weight loss drug Phentermine. She said she asked for neither the drug nor his advice that it would be good for her to “lose weight and start dating.”
On the way out of the office, she said she “requested to have her file reflect that she never wishes to see [Lohstreter] again because he makes her very uncomfortable.”
Lohstreter got arrested again on June 19. He posted $24,500 bond.
This story was originally published September 9, 2020 at 7:28 AM with the headline "Suspended after sexual assault accusation, a Florida doctor now faces 16 criminal charges."
