Case of Roger Mason Levin, MD

Case of Roger Mason Levin, MD

(AKA: Roger Levin, Roger M. Levin, R. Mason)

Internist and Surgeon - Palo Alto, CA

Menlo, CA

San Francisco, CA

According to Deputy District Attorney Michelle McCay-McCoy, all charges were taken into account at the time of sentencing, although some allegations filed in a police report could not be pursued because of the statute of limitations.

Levin will take part in a work furlough program permitted by Judge LaDoris Cordell.

Under the terms of his sentence, Levin will be on probation for three years and, among other conditions, he is ordered not to live under the same roof as any person below the age of 18, said McCay-McCoy.

Levin lost his license to practice medicine in June 1996.

1975 - A female patient attempted to file a police report against Levin, yet the Palo Alto police discouraged her from pursing the complaint “because Levin was a respected physician”

1987 - Levin was accused of molesting his two sons, who were the ages of 9 and 11 at the time of the assaults.  He plead no contest to charges of willful cruelty and received a reduce sentence of three years probation and served a 90-day work furlough.  He was also court ordered to pay his sons $180,000 for negligent emotional distress.

1996 - Arrested on charges of possessing child pornography of children under the age of 13, which included pictures of two young boys orally copulating each other and a male having sex with a young girl.   He was also arrested on charges of providing drugs to addict and prescribing medication without examinations.  At that time he temporarily had his medical license suspended.

There were also allegations that Levin was drugging and sexually assaulting female patients.  There were over 20 women who came forward and it was believed at the time that there were hundreds of victims over a 20 year period.  The alleged survivors sated they kept silent due to fears that Levin would blackmail them with photographs he took of them naked.  

Roger Mason targeted young attractive teenage girls and young adult women who came from broken homes and who had low sense of self-esteem.  One women stated that Dr. Levin invited her to live with him after she was discharged from a psychiatric hospital.  The woman stated he got her hooked on drugs and fored her to have two abortions.  After one of the abortions, Levin forced her to handle the dismembered body of the fetus.

If you are victim or have any pertinent information please contact:

San Mateo County Sheriff's Office

Detective J.Chong 650-363-4050

Det. Sgt. B.Raffaelli 650-363-4058

jachong@co,sanmateo.ca.us

braffaelli@co.sanmateo.ca.us

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Table of Contents:

1975

1. At least one woman reportedly filed a report around 1975, but Palo Alto police discouraged her from pursuing the complaint "because Levin was a respected physician."

1987

1. Levin was arrested on suspicion of felony child molestation, including charges that he inserted his finger in boys' rectums. His attorneys negotiated a plea bargain that reduced the charges to a single misdemeanor. He served a work-furlough sentence, and the medical board took no action.

1996

1. Levin was charged with eight felony and misdemeanor charges, including possession of obscene material depicting children under 14, providing drugs to an addict, prescribing drugs before an examination, obtaining narcotics by fraud and falsifying drug prescriptions.
2. Doctor arrested on porn charges (09/10/1996)
3. Police Comb Internet For Suspect's Porn Source (09/10/1996)
4. Physician arrested on drug charges (09/11/1996)
5. Doctor Abuse Case Continues to Grow Cops Says 20 More Cite Sex Misconduct  (10/08/1996)

1997

1. Doctor Enters Plea Deal Dismisses 7 Other Charges (06/02/1997)
2. Palo Alto doctor sentenced (10/24/1997)

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Doctor arrested on porn charges

Lodi News Sentinel - September 9, 1996

PALO ALTO –– A doctor was in custody after police allegedly discovered pornographic images in his personal computer and a cache of explicit videos and photographs in his home.

Palo Alto police arrested internist Roger Mason Levin, 51, at his Menlo Park house Friday after a seven-month investigation.

"There are indications that other people are involved," Police detective Michael Yore said.  "it's a huge case."

Levin also was being charged with allegedly falsifying drug prescriptions for himself and his patients.

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Police Comb Internet for Suspect's Porn Source

By Bill Workman

Chronicle Peninsula Bureau - September 10, 1996

Police are hoping to track down the Internet sources of hundreds of images of child pornography allegedly downloaded from a Palo Alto doctor's personal computers following his arrest on sex and drug charges, investigators said yesterday.

Dr. Roger M. Levin, 51, an internist and surgeon, was arrested late last week and is free in lieu of $ 250,000 bail, pending his arraignment on September 20 in Palo Alto Municipal Court.

He is charged with eight felony and misdemeanor charges, including possession of obscene material depicting children under 14, providing drugs to an addict, prescribing drugs before an examination, obtaining narcotics by fraud and falsifying drug prescriptions.

Levin's license to practice medicine in California has been temporarily suspended by the state medical board, pending an administrative hearing by the board.

Levin was taken into custody after a seven-month investigation by Palo Alto police, prompted by an armed robbery of the doctor's office in February that raised suspicions Levin might be involved in illegal activities.

The gunman, according to a police affidavit, asked for Levin by name and seemed more interested in talking clandestinely with the doctor in a back room than in taking money from the office.

In a search of Levin's Menlo Park home last week, Palo Alto police turned up hundreds of photographs of children and nude women, some of which appeared to have been downloaded and others that appeared to have been taken in his home, according to court documents.

''We want to talk to more people to determine how and where the images were transmitted from,'' said Palo Alto Detective Sergeant Dennis Burns. He noted that downloading pornography is a crime.

The material allegedly included pictures of two young boys orally copulating each other and a male having sex with a young girl.

Burns said police were aided by a Department of Motor Vehicles computer expert and two retired Silicon Valley executives in cracking a computer code in one of Levin's home computers, which investigators say he had encrypted to prevent access to the alleged pornographic images. The two former computer firm executives are continuing to help authorities in the investigation.

Court documents include allegations that Levin drugged women, including at least a few who came to him as patients, so that he could have sex with them.

Levin could not be reached for comment yesterday, but his attorney, Michael Gaines of Larkspur, noted that the ''more sensational'' pornography charge is a misdemeanor and does not involve sale or distribution of the pictures.

Gaines added that some of his client's troubles with the law may stem from a ''long, acrimonious'' divorce dispute with his former wife, (NAME REMOVED). The couple was divorced several years ago, but court records show she has assisted police in pursuing the current investigation.

In 1987, Levin was accused of sexual molestation by his two sons, ages 9 and 11 at the time, but later pleaded no contest in San Mateo County Superior Court to a reduced charge of willful cruelty. He was sentenced to three years probation and served a 90-day work furlough sentence.

Later, Levin's former wife filed a civil suit in behalf of the couple's sons alleging sexual battery. After a series of mistrials, a judge ordered Levin to pay his sons $ 180,000 for negligent emotional distress.

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Physician arrested on drug charges

Palo Alto physician also found with child pornography

By Don Kazak

Palo Alto online - September 11, 1996

A Palo Alto physician was arrested Sept. 6 and charged with illegally prescribing drugs to himself and family members.

Roger Mason Levin, 51, who lives in Menlo Park and, until recently, had an office on Cowper Street in downtown Palo Alto, was booked on suspicion of four felonies and four misdemeanor charges and was released last weekend on a $250,000 bail bond.

Levin was charged with three felony counts of issuing drugs illegally and one felony count of obtaining drugs by fraud.

Levin also was charged with providing drugs to a drug addict, prescribing drugs before an examination, and self-prescribing drugs, which are misdemeanors.

In a search warrant executed June 5 at Levin's home, police also seized two computers which had "thousands and thousands" of child pornography photographs, said Detective Jim Coffman.

Levin, an internist, had an office at 611 Cowper St. in Palo Alto. None of the charges against Levin involve patients, Coffman said, except for prescribing drugs to a longtime girlfriend.

Police began investigating Levin after he reported a robbery at his Cowper Street office in February. Coffman said some of the facts of that case, which remains unsolved, raised officers' suspicions that something was amiss. Shortly after that, Coffman said, Palo Alto police received a call from an investigator for the state medical board and were told it also was investigating Levin.

Palo Alto Detective Mike Yore then spent six months working with state medical investigators on the case.

Levin surrendered his license to practice medicine after the June 5 searches of his office and his home.

"The state medical board had people giving them information, and we were able to talk to other people," Coffman said. "There was enough probable cause to get the computers included on the search warrant."

Possession of child pornography photographs is a misdemeanor, Coffman said. But Levin could face federal felony charges if he downloaded the images across state lines, or if he transmitted images himself.

This was not the first time Levin had had a run-in with the law. Levin was arrested in 1987 and charged with having sex with two boys, ages 9 and 14. He later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of endangering a child, but also reportedly paid $30,000 each to the families of the two boys to settle a later civil lawsuit arising from the arrest.

However, Levin was able to retain his license to practice medicine.

The state medical board has since issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting Levin from practicing medicine in California.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Mike Yore at 329-2558.

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Doctor Abuse Case Continues to Grow Cops Say 20 More Cite Sex Misconduct

By Edwin Garcia

San Jose Mercury News - October 8, 1996

(NAME REMOVED), 17, hastily put on her clothes and darted from the doctor's office, tears streaming down her blue eyes.

She had wanted Dr. Roger Mason Levin to treat her chronic abdominal cramps. Instead, she said, the Palo Alto internist gave her a lengthy rectal exam, insisted on a pelvic exam, then touched her breasts and squeezed her nipples while "telling me how pretty my eyes were."

(NAME REMOVED)'s mother shouted "Oh my God!" upon hearing her daughter's ordeal in October 1993; she suddenly recalled her own, similar appointment 14 years earlier. With the same doctor.

Their complaints, along with others in police reports and court documents, led to the loss of Levin's medical license and the criminal in vestigation that resulted in his Sept. 6 arrest.

Since then, according to police, at least 20 alleged victims have come forward with stories of sexual abuse by Levin that go back more than 20 years. Still, the case against Levin continues to grow, with possibly hundreds of victims, said Palo Alto police Detective Michael Yore.

Levin, 51, of Menlo Park, is free on bail, waiting to enter a plea Friday on eight felony and misdemeanor counts, including charges that he prescribed narcotics when there was no medical need. Through his attorneys, he declined requests for interviews. Levin's attorneys have told police that drugs were stolen from his client's office, Yore said. The attorneys also said, in an interview shortly after Levin's arrest, that Levin merely was accused of possessing child pornography, a felony, not distributing it.

In interviews with the Mercury News and in court statements, a handful of his alleged victims said they kept silent when they should have complained about Levin. Some of these witnesses said they feared no one would believe them; they were frightened that Levin would blackmail them with photographs he secretly took of them naked. Some feared his attorneys and, according to court documents, at least one woman reportedly filed a report around 1975, but Palo Alto police discouraged her from pursuing the complaint "because Levin was a respected physician."

Faced at least 3 lawsuits

Court records show Levin has faced at least three lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct against women and children since the 1980s, including a former assistant in his Cowper Street office. Other alleged victims told investigators years after being abused that Levin settled their claims before lawsuits were filed.

"His medical license has given him access to people's bodies, their private lives, all of which he penetrates and violates," one victim told the Mercury News. "The license has not only enabled him, but protected him."

Some, like (NAME REMOVED), are eager to testify against Levin, in part because of the outcome of a previous investigation that some say failed to punish him. In 1987, Levin was arrested on suspicion of felony child molestation, including charges that he inserted his finger in boys' rectums. His attorneys negotiated a plea bargain that reduced the charges to a single misdemeanor. He served a work-furlough sentence, and the medical board took no action.

"I just want to make sure this time he lands his butt in jail for the rest of his life," said (Name Removed), 20, who is now married.

Another is a 21-year-old woman who is suing Levin and asking for the doctor to pay for long-term therapy. (NAME REMOVED) is not related to the doctor, but in his quest to manipulation, she said, he urged her to legally change her name.

(NAME REMOVED)  met Dr. Levin when she was 19 and he was 49. She claimed the doctor invited her to live with him immediately after her release from a psychiatric hospital. Her suit, scheduled for trial next month, claims Levin got her hooked on drugs and forced her to abort two pregnancies.

After one abortion, according to an investigator's report, Levin had her handle the dismembered body of the fetus.

Her attorney, John Winer of San Francisco, said (NAME REMOVED) was perfect prey for the doctor - attractive, young, fragile, from a broken home and with low self-esteem. She was needy.

(NAME REMOVED) is one of few people who claimed to have seen a private room in his house. The room was "knee deep" with everything from pictures of autopsies to obscene videotapes of children. Yore said police seized computers containing child pornography from the same room. She left him after an emotional breakdown.

One former patient came forward to Palo Alto police to say that she'd been fondled by Levin during an exam 23 years earlier, when the doctor was in a medical practice on Welch Road.

"He was a nice guy," said the woman, who asked that she not be identified. "He paid attention to me; he was very charming, and I was a very lonely 16-year-old girl." Levin would take her to lunch, and even drive her home after appointments.

But then it happened: Levin ordered his nurse to take a lunch break, then he allegedly fondled the girl's breasts.

The girl told her mother about "strange things going on at the doctor's office," but she wasn't specific. And she didn't tell authorities until she heard of Levin's arrest last month.

"It blew my mind. I thought I was the only one," she said. Her case may or may not hold up in criminal court, depending on how many other victims police find within the three-year statute of limitations.

Police claim pattern

Still, police and prosecutors could use her allegations and those of other victims who have yet to come forward in an attempt to show a pattern they contend Levin established.

Levin's sexual misconduct started well before his medical career, according to court documents.

As a youngster, he placed obscene phone calls, according to a statement filed by his ex-wife in court documents. After graduating from medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, he enrolled in a dermatology residency at Stanford University. But he was thrown out before its completion for taking "inappropriate pictures," according to court documents.

Another former patient, a local health-field professional who requested anonymity, said she wondered about Levin's motivations when she saw him for a physical checkup and he commented on her perfume.

Indeed, court records allege that Levin wrote information about patients' perfume in their medical records.

The former patient's husband, and her father-in-law, told of unusual anecdotes when treated by the same doctor. On separate occasions, after examining them, Levin allegedly said to each: "The good news is, you don't have syphilis or gonorrhea."

Levin became the subject of a police investigation in February after he reported a robber bolted into his office and held him at gunpoint. Nobody was injured and only petty cash was taken. But during the investigation, police bumped into a medical board investigator looking into sex and drug allegations, Yore said.

The formal accusation that suspended Levin's license, culminating a two-year investigation, was filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court on July 31. The reported robbery remains unsolved.

Earlier this year, with investigators closing in, Levin hired a psychiatrist, Dr. Mark Levy, to perform an evaluation.

Levy concluded Levin suffered from depression and had become incompetent to practice medicine, according to a summary of Levy's report filed in court. The summary did not specify which, if either of the two traumatic events, were affecting Levin the most: the robbery or the investigation.

Levin offered to surrender the license. The medical board moved to suspend it.

Levin's license will be invalid until he requests a hearing, Deputy Attorney General Ronald Thunen Jr. said. The board could then move to have Levin's license revoked, or Levin could request it be reissued.

Levin likely will await the outcome of his criminal case before deciding whether to request the hearing.

In a June 23 letter he sent to patients, Levin said: "I regret to inform you that I will be discontinuing the practice of internal medicine for the foreseeable future, although I eventually hope to return."

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Doctor Enters Plea Deal Dismisses 7 Other Charges

By Daniel Vasquez Y

Mercury News (Pg. 1B) - June 28, 1997

Roger M. Levin, the Palo Alto doctor who faced charges of possessing child pornography and issuing unlawful drug prescriptions, has pleaded no contest to a single charge of illegally prescribing himself drugs.

The plea bargain made this week with the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office is conditional on the promise that Levin will face no more than a year in county jail, according to court records.

The deal -- which wipes out seven separate charges involving illegal drug prescriptions for patients and possession of child pornography -- apparently will not open any doors for Levin's once respected medical career.

And the plea bargain has not deterred a multimillion dollar civil suit by a 21-year-old woman who claims that two years ago she was repeatedly drugged by Levin.

"(Her) concern was that justice would be done, both criminally and civilly," said her attorney, John Winer. "Unfortunately, what happens in the criminal case is out of her hands. What happens in the civil case, she does have control over and she intends to pursue Dr. Levin until she is fully compensated for the injuries he caused her."

Through his attorney, Joseph Hoffman, Levin told the Medical Board of California this week that he does not plan to ask for the reinstatement of his medical license, said Ron Thunen, a California deputy attorney general. The license, which allows Levin to practice internal medicine, has been indefinitely suspended by the state board since July 1996, he said.

"I can tell you Dr. Levin has no current intention of seeking to go back to the practice of medicine anytime soon," Thunen said. "All (the medical board) cares about is protection of the public, and the public is being protected (from Levin)."

Thunen said that Levin has a right to ask for a hearing to obtain his license again, but that if he does so, the medical board would probably seek to have his license permanently revoked.

As for the plea bargain -- Santa Clara County deputy district attorney Michelle McKay-McCoy said that a stipulation issued by the judge means that the dismissed charges may still be considered for sentencing purposes.

Levin had faced three counts of issuing prescriptions without dental cause for Diazepam, Halcion and Percodan (tranquilizers and painkillers); possession of obscene material depicting a person under the age of 14; providing drugs to an addict; and prescribing drugs before a medical examination.

"I didn't feel that it would have made an appreciable difference" to try Levin on the additional seven charges," said McKay-McCoy. "Those charges do matter because they are based on actual fact. But in his sentencing, even if he pleaded guilty on all of the charges it wouldn't have made a difference."

Civil suit pending

The woman who has a civil suit against Levin is asking for the doctor to pay for long-term therapy. The suit charges invasion of privacy, negligence, false imprisonment, assault and battery.

While a dollar amount was not attached to the suit, her attorney said, "I have received $7 million verdicts in similar cases. This case has that potential."

The woman met Levin when she was 19 and he was 49. She claimed the doctor invited her to live with him immediately after her release from a psychiatric hospital. Her suit claims, among other things, Levin got her hooked on drugs and forced her to abort two pregnancies.

After one abortion, according to an investigator's report, Levin caused her to believe she should "divide" the fetus up so that he could have a part and she would have a part, according to the civil suit.

The woman is also one of few people who claimed to have seen a private room in his house. The room was "knee deep" with everything from pictures of autopsies to obscene videotapes of children, police said.

The civil suit claims Levin should have know how much damage his alleged actions would have on a young patient.

Levin, now 52, has declined requests for interviews. However, his attorneys have told police that drugs were stolen from his client's office.

Other accusations

Others feared Levin's attorneys and, according to court documents, at least one woman reportedly filed a report around 1975, but Palo Alto police discouraged her from pursuing the complaint "because Levin was a respected physician."

Court records show Levin has faced at least three lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct against women and children since the 1980s, including a former assistant in his Cowper Street office. Other alleged victims told investigators years after being abused that Levin settled their claims before lawsuits were filed.

McKay-McCoy said the sex-related charges were not filed by her because none of them met the statute of limitations, which for most felonies is three years. She said the most recent allegations were before 1994.

"The police did a great investigation . . . We were just out of luck," McKay-McCoy said.

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Palo Alto doctor sentenced

Levin receives 10 months in jail for illegally prescribing drugs to himself

By Vicki Anning

Palo Alto Online - October 24, 1997

Dr. Roger Levin, a former Palo Alto physician who was arrested last year on charges of illegal drug prescription and possessing child pornography, was sentenced Friday to 10 months in jail.

Levin, 52, received a reduced sentence after agreeing to plead guilty to one count of illegally prescribing the painkiller Halcion to himself. In exchange, eight further charges of possessing child pornography and prescribing drugs illegally to patients were dropped.

According to Deputy District Attorney Michelle McCay-McCoy, all charges were taken into account at the time of sentencing, although some allegations filed in a police report could not be pursued because of the statute of limitations.

Levin's sentence in Santa Clara County jail isn't due to start until Dec. 29, 1997. According to McCay-McCoy, if he is accepted, Levin will take part in a work furlough program permitted by Judge LaDoris Cordell.

Under the terms of his sentence, Levin will be on probation for three years and, among other conditions, he is ordered not to live under the same roof as any person below the age of 18, said McCay-McCoy.

Levin lost his license to practice medicine in June 1996 and is currently unemployed. He has been free on bond since his arrest in September 1996.

Levin, who practiced internal medicine from Cowper Street in downtown Palo Alto, also faces a civil suit filed by a 21-year-old woman who claims that the doctor prescribed her drugs repeatedly until she became addicted.

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