RIVERSIDEÂ – A physician and operator of a Riverside skin care clinic accused of sexually assaulting three female patients was charged today with multiple felony offenses.
Dr. Sam Sannoufi, 52, of Newport Beach was arrested for the second time in less than two weeks on Friday and booked into the Robert Presley Jail, where he’s being held without bail.
Sannoufi is charged with five counts of sexual battery of an unconscious person, three counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person, and one count of oral copulation of an unconscious person.
The defendant was slated to make his initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
He was arrested for the first time on June 27 in connection with an earlier investigation involving a woman who had visited his Timeless Skincare Laser Clinic Primary Care at 6900 Brockton Ave.
“The investigation continued, and additional victims have since come forward with similar allegations they were sexually assaulted by Dr. Sannoufi,” Riverside police spokesman Officer Ryan Railsback said.
He said that the first victim contacted the agency’s Sexual Assault-Child Abuse Unit in early June, alleging that she was assaulted by the doctor during a consultation.
The specific circumstances behind the alleged offense, and the victim’s identity, were not disclosed.
Railsback said SACA detectives gathered sufficient evidence to obtain an arrest warrant, and Sannoufi was summoned to the department’s Orange Street station, where he was taken into custody without incident last month. He posted a $1 million bond and was released from jail a couple hours later.
Details concerning the other victims, whose identities also were not released, were not disclosed.
Sannoufi has no documented prior misdemeanor or felony convictions in Riverside County.
According to the Medical Board of California, the defendant has been a licensed doctor in the state since March 2009. He is a graduate of the Ukrainian State Medical University in Kiev and has no listed disciplinary actions, administrative citations or malpractice suits on file with regulators in California.
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