Felony charges could be filed Tuesday against a physician and operator of a Riverside skin care clinic accused of sexually assaulting several female patients.
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 on suspicion of sexual battery, forcible digital penetration and oral copulation of a drugged or unconscious victim.
Sannoufi was being held without bail.
The suspect had been arrested the first time on June 27 in connection with an earlier investigation involving a woman who had visited the suspect’s 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.
The case is under review by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
Railsback said the first alleged victim contacted the agency’s Sexual Assault-Child Abuse Unit in early June, alleging she was assaulted by the suspect during a consultation,
The specific circumstances behind the alleged offense, and the alleged 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 in a couple of hours.
Sannoufi has no documented prior misdemeanor or felony convictions in Riverside County.
According to the Medical Board of California, the suspect 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.