Delaware licensed Dr. Gregory Villabona, a psychiatrist, even though in 2002 he had pleaded guilty in Maryland to two criminal charges involving sex offenses on a female minor in cases that dated back to 1978 and 1983.
He had been indicted on 30 counts, including rape. His sentence in Maryland was five years’ probation before judgment.
The Delaware medical board in 2003 placed restrictions on his license, but a court stayed that order, court documents show. The court released him early from probation in 2005. The board, which also shortened his probation, said Villabona could only practice on patients 18 and older unless he had an adult chaperone and told patients of the Maryland guilty plea.
In 2007, the board extended his probation because it found he had violated the chaperone provision. Then in 2008, the board said it had a complaint from 2006 that he’d had "consensual" sex with a patient, a 22-year-old who was described as a victim of child sex abuse that Villabona was treating for depression. The board then restricted the doctor to seeing only adult male patients.
Villabona has not yet responded to a request for comment.
» More on the broad investigation of sexual misconduct by physicians at doctors.ajc.com.
