Calgary neurologist who sexually abused dozens of women pleads guilty to 27 more assaults - Action News
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Calgary neurologist who sexually abused dozens of women pleads guilty to 27 more assaults

A disgraced former Calgary neurologist who was already convicted of sexually assaulting 28 former patients has pleaded guilty to a second set of charges involving dozens more women and two underage teenagers.

In 2020, Keith Hoyte pleaded guilty to assaulting 28 female patients over 3 decades

A man in a trench coat walks by the Calgary courthouse.
Retired neurologist Keith Hoyte leaves the courthouse in Calgary on Jan. 6, 2020. Hoyte has admitted in court to sexually assaulting dozens of female patients over three decades. (Todd Korol/The Canadian Press)

A disgraced former Calgary neurologist who was already convicted of sexually assaulting 28 former patients has pleaded guilty to a second set of charges involving dozens more women and two underage teenagers.

On Thursday, Keith Hoyte pleaded guilty to 27 new counts of sexual assault involving 25 women and two girls, ages16 and 17.

The assaults against the women were detailed in an agreed statement of factsand echo the first set of offences in which the victims describe being told to strip down to their underwear and then groped.

A sentencing hearing for the 74-year-old will take place at a later date.

In January 2020, Hoyte pleaded guilty and was handed a three-year sentence. He has been released from prison and is now on parole.

After he was sentenced, dozensmore women came forward to police.

Provincial court Judge Allan Fradsham accepted Hoyte's plea Thursday, negotiated by prosecutor Rosalind Greenwood and defence lawyerAlain Hepner.

A publication ban protects the identities of the victims.

Decades of offending

Hoyte admittedto gropingand fondling dozens of femalepatientsbetween the ages of 16and 46 from 1983untilhe retired in 2013.

According to the agreed statement of facts,patients were instructed by the doctor toundress, even though they were seeking treatment for serious neurological issues like migraines, seizures, stroke and MS.

Hoyteadmitted he'd then untie and lower the gowns before fondling his victims'breasts.

In1985, Hoyte began seeing a 12-year-old patient who was suffering from seizures. She saw the doctor once ortwice peryear, and when she turned 16, Hoyte began fondling the girl.

At his first sentencing hearing, Hoyte's victims said they felt mortified, vulnerable and confused as the doctor groped and grabbed at their breasts, pinching and stroking their nipples.

When given the chance to address the court, the women spoke of feeling empowered to come forward knowing there were other victims.

The retired doctor first appeared on the investigators' radar in 2018 when a woman came forward to police. Investigators discovered others had previously reported the doctor over the years for similar behaviour.