Vinni Gupta was a serial sexual predator whose spree lasted 14 years, throughout most of the time he lived in the United States.

He abused the daughters of his friends and neighbors. He abused co-workers. Some of his own employees accused him of groping and harassing them. A job applicant even accused him of groping her during the interview.

"I’m there basically in a room, helpless, by myself, taken advantage of," one victim said. "And I felt that he used his knowledge and his power to do that."

How Gupta got into that position of power is a story of male privilege and misogyny, of state regulators looking away, and of his professional colleagues choosing to protect their legal backsides instead of women.

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Credit: Johnny Edwards

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Credit: Johnny Edwards

Gupta is a

, and his profession gave him the perfect outlet for getting women alone, undressed, vulnerable and submissive: the examination room.

Season 3 of the AJC's "Breakdown" podcast series, "Predator, M.D.," tells the true-crime story of a sexual predator who got away with abuses for years, and the tragic accounts of women whose lives he shattered.

This installment of "Breakdown" grew out of last year's award-winning Doctors & Sex Abuse series by the AJC. The case of Dr. Narendra K. "Vinni" Gupta, a hypertension and diabetes specialist in Johns Creek, was one of the most outrageous doctor sex abuse cases to arise in the Atlanta area. But the local news media, including this newspaper, didn't cover the outcome of the criminal case or report what police investigators uncovered.

The whole story – spanning from India to Canada to Ohio to Atlanta – has never been told, until now.

Episode 1 of "Predator, M.D." is now available on iTunes, with five more episodes to follow over the next five weeks.

You can also listen to Episode 1 below.