OAK GROVE, Mo. — An investigator with the FBI says there may be dozens more victims following charges against an Oak Grove chiropractor accused of molesting underage patients.
Court documents show David Clark, 70, of Independence framed the abuse as medical treatments, pelvic and breast exams, according to court documents.
The accusations center at the Health+Clinic where, according to a probable cause statement filed in Jackson County, Clark frequently targeted victims who were Amish.
Federal investigators lay out how the young girls who visited him from the Amish communities had little to no experience going to gynecologists or obstetricians.
Clark now faces six felony charges related to sexual abuse. He’s currently out on a $250,000 bond and as a term of that release he cannot do medical treatments.
But until this point he’s presented himself as a ‘Naturopath’ with a chiropractor certificate.
He found patients among the Amish. According to court documents, “For many victims, Clark was their first interaction with medical personnel of any type.”
Five women have now told federal investigators their stories going back to the late 1990s. The stories have similarities.
One former patient said Clark went without gloves during a pelvic exam and fondled her. The accusations are explicit in court documents and detail Clark attempting to get a sexual response from the children.
According to court documents, another patient “stated she was very uncomfortable with the treatment, which she did not understand at the time, but now since becoming an adult she is aware that is what happened.”
FOX4 tried to connect with Clark but received no answer at his door. However, calling a phone number on his bond paperwork, FOX4 spoke to Clark’s wife who would not comment on the charges, other than to call them ‘ridiculous.’
But there are other disturbing details in court documents including the draft of a sexually explicit novel on Clark’s computer that was found when agents executed a search warrant at the clinic.
“In the book a doctor comes to a woman’s home and does the type of ‘treatment that are described by the victims…” according to court documents.
The FBI is also urging more potential victims to step forward as the details of these charges come out. In court documents investigators say there could be dozen more out there possibly going back to the 1980s.
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The Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault (MOCSA) is expecting the stories of trauma shared in the media could trigger other survivor and is preparing for and influx of potential calls to their Crisis Line: (816) 531-0233.
While MOCSA would not comment directly on the charges against Clark, MOSCA Director of Education Brandy Williams talked about the general strategy of abusers who are in positions of power.
“When we’re thinking about sexual violence – it’s about power and control. It’s not about sex. It’s not about love. It’s about how a perpetrator is going to have access to victims, right? So oftentimes they are looking for people who are younger than them, have less power than them, struggling to communicate what is going on or what that experience is,” Williams said.