Doctor convicted of raping patients gets 20 years
Wed, 02/15/2006
Charles Momah is literally a man with two faces.
Not only did his patients at first encounter a seemingly kind and caring obstetrician-gynecologist who later morphed into an abusive monster, but it is alleged that his identical twin brother Dennis Momah would often pose as Charles and see patients in a horribly creepy echo of the 1988 movie "Dead Ringers."
"Twenty years is not enough, he should have gotten life without parole," said Karen Bartels, one of Momah's victims who joined local attorney Harish Bharti and the 45 women he represented in civil lawsuits against Momah. "And Dennis Momah has not been charged with a single thing."
Charles Momah, 49, was sentenced on February 6 in King County Superior Court to 20 years in prison for raping and fondling scores of female patients, as well as extensive insurance fraud and filing false health care claims.
Superior Court documents describe how Momah touched patients in a sexual manner, performed gynecological exams without wearing gloves, unnecessarily probed them with a vaginal ultrasound wand, sexually harassed his patients, pressured patients into surgeries, prescribed addictive painkillers for no good medical reason, and double-billed insurance companies for procedures.
When patients started to come forward with their concerns, Momah's medical license was suspended in 2003 and his clinics in Federal Way, Burien and Issaquah closed after the King County Prosecutor's Office charged him with seven felonies.
44 women had filed charges against him by June 2004, although he ultimately was convicted on only two counts of rape, due to statute of limitations issues.
Momah was born in Nigeria and received medical training in Nigeria and Canada, then worked in New York and Georgia before moving to Washington State in 1993.
If it weren't for Kelly Acker, a 33-year-old former patient of Momah's, the malevolent doctor might still be at large.
Acker, in a frank interview with the Federal Way News last week, explained how after she became a patient of Momah in 1998, he began to diagnosis her with strange and extensive gynecological ailments.
"He told me I had all these problems. For so long I brushed off a lot of weird stuff that happened, thinking it was just me...Never did I stop to question his authority as my doctor," said Acker.
It wasn't until Momah performed a surgery on Acker requiring anesthesia that she knew her vague feelings of impropriety were validated. As she came to, she felt a hand caressing her ankle. When she fully awakened, she was alone in the office, and she had bruising on her inner thighs.
Then she received a bill from Momah's office for $900 that used wrong diagnosis codes. She ran it by her co-workers, who agreed that something was fishy, and decided to take action.
Acker reported Momah to the Department of Health and other state agencies, and initiated a paper trail to the insurance companies, documenting her claims.
"I was told over and over that I didn't have any hard evidence and that it was very difficult to convict a doctor," said Acker. "It was discouraging and frustrating."
Finally Acker started calling lawyers listed in the phone book. She got the brush off repeatedly. She left one last message with Bharti's office, thinking that if he didn't return her call, she would give up.
Bharti returned her phone call within twenty minutes, beginning a process that would end up in eventual conviction of Momah.
"I've worked in a physician's office for the past four years, and now I know I should have acted earlier, I should have seen what was going on, but I didn't," signed Acker. "It's been a long battle, and I'm glad it's over, but honestly, I won't take my daughter to a male doctor, it was that bad."
"And the brother Dennis is still out there," added Acker.