Crime & Safety

Oak Lawn Doctor's Battery Charge May Play Into Felony Sex Case

A Cook County judge will decide next month whether prosecutors can bolster their felony sex case against an Oak Lawn doctor by introducing a pending misdemeanor battery charge.

An Oak Lawn doctor charged with groping a woman in his car will find out next month if the time he allegedly molested a semi-conscious patient can be used against him in court.

Rajat Prakash, 47, appeared before Judge Colleen Ann Hyland Monday morning at the Bridgeview Courthouse and was told she would later decide whether the misdemeanor battery charge can be used by prosecutors to bolster a felony sex abuse case.

Prakash, a former Advocate Christ Medical Center physician, first caught the battery case when he was charged in February 2012  with fondling a 32-year-old woman with multiple sclerosis while she was in a semi-conscious state.

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Then, in May, another woman came forward and told police Prakash forced her to touch his penis as they sat in his car and discussed her medical case in a Starbucks parking lot in Oak Lawn.

Prakash was accompanied at the hearing by attorney Nicholas J. Faklis.

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Prakash's medical license was suspended in May, according to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.


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