Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
A former Convenience Clinic doctor who was convicted last year of child molesting and sexual misconduct is free to practice medicine again in Indiana, the Indiana Medical Licensing Board decided yesterday.
Dr. Willard Harvey Hagenmeyer III, 37, can practice with restrictions, the board ruled. He can practice only on patients who are age 18 and older, and he must have someone else in the room when examining women.
Licensing board members said Thursday they lifted the suspension of Hagenmeyer's license because they felt he had been punished enough.
"We were surprised by the decision to reinstate Dr. Hagenmeyer," Kosciusko County Prosecutor David Kolbe said this morning. "He's got multiple prior felony convictions now."
Hagenmeyer was convicted in November 1995 of a Class C felony child molesting charge and a Class D felony sexual misconduct charge. He was charged with the offenses after improperly touching three teen-age girls during sports physicals at the Convenience Clinic.
"It's amazing to us that the government agency would renew such a person's license," Kolbe said.
Kosciusko Superior Court Judge Richard Sand sentenced Hagenmeyer in December 1995 to a four-year prison term for the Class C felony child molesting charge, but suspended that sentence for 10 years on probation.
Sand imposed an 18-month sentence for the Class D felony sexual misconduct offense, and ordered that sentence to be served, with 23 days credit for time already served. Because Indiana law allows inmates one day credit for each day served on good behavior, Hagenmeyer was released from prison on Aug. 27.
The felony charges were based on actions Hagenmeyer took when examining three girls, ages 12, 13 and 14. He also faced charges of improperly touching two women during physical examinations, but because the women were adults at the time, those charges were misdemeanors.
At the time of his trial, Hagenmeyer was on probation from a 1994 conviction in Noble County for abuse of controlled drugs. He had been admitted in December 1992 to a drug treatment facility for chemical dependency and drug abuse.
The Indiana Medical Licensing Board did not return calls this morning.
