Last update - 00:00 01/03/2007
T.A. attorney indicted for posing as autistic man, raping caregivers
By Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent
Police on Thursday indicted attorney Ilan Eshed at Tel Aviv District Court for luring women by posing as a woman and then sexually assaulting them.
Eshed is accused of answering advertisements placed by young women looking for work, and posing as a woman psychologist or psychiatrist, using the pseudonyms Dr. Kim and Dr. Levine.
When responding to the adverts, Eshed offered the women work as caregivers for an autistic man. He told them the patient was from a wealthy family, and needed supervision as his parents had died in a plane crash and he had been the victim of sexual abuse.
When the women came to meetings, Eshed would pose as the autistic man, perform indecent acts on the women, and in some cases even rape them.
The fraudulent doctor would then maintain phone contact with the victims, encouraging them to continue with the sexual "treatment" of the "patient." In some cases, the women agreed to bring friends to the meetings, who also became victims of Eshed.
The indictment relates to offenses performed on twelve young women, and the charges include dozens of cases of indecent assault and rape.