Former Hopewell neurologist indicted for sexual assault and criminal sexual contact

A former neurologist has been indicted for allegedly sexually assaulting seven female patients during a two-year period while he was employed at Capital Health in Hopewell Township, the Mercer County Prosecutor said today.

On March 9, a Mercer County grand jury returned a 15-count indictment charging Ricardo Cruciani, 63, with eight counts of second-degree sexual assault and seven counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact.

Seven female patients were allegedly victimized by Cruciani between January of 2014 and January of 2016. Some of the women came forward after reading about his charges in Pennsylvania.

The indictment alleges that Cruciani sexual assaulted and touched victims by using physical force or coercion. Cruciani was a chief neurologist at Capital Health’s Institute of Neurosciences at its Hopewell Township campus at the time of the incidents. In November 2017, he pleaded guilty in Pennsylvania to groping women in a Philadelphia clinic. He is currently charged with sexually assaulting multiple women in New York over a 10-year period.

Prosecutor Angelo Onofri said the charges are the result of an investigation by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit and the Hopewell Township Police Department. Senior Assistant Prosecutor Renee Robeson presented the case to the grand jury. Anyone with information on the case should contact the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit at (609) 989-6568.