DU Activists - A Black Immigrant Doctor being persecuted by Mesa PD in Mesa AZ, Needs your help

Hi,

On Thursday, June 10, Dr Gabriel Ogbonnaya, a Nigerian doctor with 19 years unblemished history, was arrested on "probable cause" for Sexual Abuse charges by Mesa PD. The probable cause was purely 2 identical uncorroborated statements, made by 2 very sick people 6 months apart. The racists bile that is being allowed by Arizona press to be written on their websites is disgusting. "No wonder there is aids in Africa", and "I went to Dr Ogbonnaya`s office and he is an Obama supporter" are two of just many. We are trying to do what we can do, but we need attention drawn to this case immediately. We have emailed Olbermann, Huffington Post, Rachel Maddow, but there is only so much we can do. Please help this good man if you can.

The facts of this case are:

1)Dr Ogbonnaya never has female consultations without at least one licensed medical professional present at all times. The police have to date failed to interview a single witness.

2) The police arrested Dr Ogbonnaya, before anything was submitted to the State Attorney for review, because Dr Ogbonnaya refused to speak to them without an attorney being present.

3) The definition of probable cause is pretty well established. However, despite no investigation being done, the police released his details to the media, and during Friday, this honorable and intelligent man was crucified in the press all day long despite there being no investigation whatsoever into his case by Mesa PD.Reporters banged on his home doors, terrifying his children all day long. He is currently under extreme electronic monitoring and isn`t allowed to leave his home between 7.30 pm on Friday and 7.30 am Monday morning.

4) Based on police pressure, the Arizona Medical Board, who were faxed "anonymously" details of the charges against Dr Ogbonnaya, are trying to suspend his medical license.

5) A press feeding frenzy demonizing this man was orchestrated throughout Friday.

I have attached a press release from Dr Ogbonnaya`s attorney which is being ignored by the media. If every American isn`t terrified by what is happening to this man, then America, we have a problem. I can assure every person on this board that there is absolutely no truth to any of the charges made against Dr Ogbonnaya. The Arizona Immigration bill allows for police to exercise 'reasonable suspicion" or "probable cause". If this can happen to a doctor, what chance do the rest of us have. I don`t know what anybody on this board can do, but I have faith in DU that attention can be drawn to this terrifying and outrageous attack on Civil Liberties in Arizona.

For Immediate Release – June 14 2020

Former Mesa City Prosecutor and Attorney to Dr Gabriel Ogbonnaya, Jan Buescher, slams lack of investigation by Mesa PD into the allegations against Dr Ogbonnaya.

Jan M. Buescher of Buescher Law Offices, P.C. (http://www.buescherlaw.com) today issued further criticism of Mesa Police Department’s handling of the sexual abuse allegations against her Client, Dr. Gabriel Ogbonnaya. In a statement to the media, Ms. Buescher, a former Mesa City Prosecutor, again criticized the lack of investigation leading up to Dr. Ogbonnaya’s arrest on Wednesday afternoon, June 9, 2010.

Mesa Police spokesman, Detective Steve Berry has confirmed that “We’re still in the early stages of investigation. We’re going to interview all of the people that need to be interviewed and go from there.” In response, Attorney Buescher asks, “shouldn’t this have been done PRIOR TO Dr. Ogbonnaya’s very public arrest at his office by Ms. Kessler who has a sworn duty to the public to investigate allegations before an arrest is made.

Mesa Police claim that they can arrest someone on “probable cause.” Ms. Kessler was granted the authority by the Mesa Police Department and while knowingly in control of Dr. Ogbonnaya’s reputation, career and livelihood proceeded to publically arrest Dr. Ogbonnaya based on two questionable statements. Upon her sole discretion and actions, Ms. Kessler succeeded in nothing more than destroying a man’s life, career and family.

Mesa Police Department continue to contradict themselves as Detective Berry informed the press and public that the December 2009 allegation was never acted upon because the “victim” did not want to cooperate with prosecution. That’s not what Ms. Kessler told me Wednesday afternoon in the lobby of the Mesa Police station. When asked specifically why charges were not brought last December if indeed a violation of the law did occur, her response was “I don’t know. It wasn’t my case then; I just got it this morning.” If the Mesa Police Department can’t get their story straight, how can we trust that they can determine “probable cause”? To date, not a single witness who was present when these events allegedly took place has been interviewed.

Furthermore, the release of information that has occurred thus far has essentially provided a blueprint to anyone wanting their 15 minutes of fame at Dr. Ogbonnaya’s expense.

Despite the “innocent until proven guilty” standard, every allegation made against Dr. Ogbonnaya will be fully investigated by my office. We are confident that once all of the evidence is gathered Dr. Ogbonnaya will be fully exonerated. In the meantime, however, his entire life, reputation and career have been jeopardized due to the utter lack of due diligence by Officer Kessler and the Mesa Police Department.

About Dr Gabriel Ogbonnaya



Even on his death bed, Gabriel Ogbonnaya's father could not get one thought out of his head: "My son is going to be a doctor." These were among the last words Ogbonnaya's father told his then-12-year-old son before he died, leaving his wife alone to raise six children. Driven by his father's words and disgust over the terrible healthcare conditions he saw in Nigeria, Dr Ogbonnaya has fulfilled his father's prophecy and his own dream of opening a practice in the United States.

A devout Christian, Gabriel U. Ogbonnaya, MD, MHA is Board Certified in Internal medicine. He received his medical training from the University of Nigeria. He graduated in 1991 as the Best Student of the Faculty of Medical Sciences and Dentistry and as the Best Student of the Department of Internal Medicine. He had his postgraduate Internal Medicine residency training at Interfaith Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York. During residency, Dr. Ogbonnaya maintained the best record in the ACP-ASIM National Internal Medicine In-Training Examinations, ranking consistently in the top 3% nationally. He passed the American Board of Internal Medicine certification examination at the top 10% and in 2006 he graduated from the University of Phoenix with a Masters in Health Administration.

He is certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Advanced Trauma Life Support, Pediatric Advanced Life Support, and Hyperbaric Medicine and Problem Wound Management. He serves in the Advocacy, Quality Assurance, and Volunteerism Council of the American College of Physicians, Arizona State Chapter, and he is a member of several charity organizations.

That's my hometown there.

I am stunned by what is happening to him. In this world of money and medicine, he refuses to turn away people who don`t have insurance. He treats the most helpless in society and never asks for anything. He treats narcotic addicts, he is the first proper doctor I have ever met in my life. I am in tears as I write this, seeing what he is going through.

I think he was my dad's doctor! I would love to know if this is the same Dr. If so, he helped me help my father pass on.

In America, justice is a joke.

I studied German at school, we read a book as part of our studies, "Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum", I never thought I would live it...

that he sexually abused two female patients. Identical statements made 6 months apart, despite the fact on both occasions he was accompanied by a Chaperone. The statements are "identical". Unfortunately, the "victims" are hiding behind the victim protection law. However, i spoke with the attorney, who by the way, is doing this for a flat fee which has already been used up because she is so outraged by the charges, she stated by the time this gets to court, this good man will have lost everything.

I'm not familiar with the vctim protection law. Itseems like anyone can accuse anyoe else of ANYTHING and have them arrested without any proof. I didn't think that was possible under US law.

I was shocked too....

sadly this does not surprise me...

And I expect things to get MUCH WORST before they get better,

ya, great idea, lets make that happen

they don't release the names, a poster can't believe they can get away with not releasing the names, you say, "only if we let them :-)"
am i reading this wrong? or are you obtuse? one or the other.

I`m certainly not trying to be obtuse and this is a far too disturbing case for any nonsensical petty arguments. The actual phrase was "only if we let it", and I was responding to the poster who stated things are going to get a lot worse..

and the charges are proven false, then their names should be released -- and they should be put in jail.

I agree with you, there should be serious consequences for people making these allegations when they prove not to be true. Another doctor, another black man,an OGBYN with a long perfect history in Medicine was charged yesterday by Phoenix PD, for the exact same accusations. Pretty soon, no medical professional will be safe to practice.

There's nothing here on which to base any judgement of guilt or innocence, but the actions of the authorities clearly seem premature and reckless, not to mention prejudicial. That raises serious questions of fairness and justice.

I also have to wonder what explains the rush to judgement and the departure from normal investigative and charging standards. If the OP account is accurate, the (ugly) answer may be: "It's Arizona, Jake."

The only thing I can`t disclose is information about the victims, but what I can say, is that I have spoken with the Chaperones, I have spoken with Dr Ogbonnaya and I have spoken with the attorney. Everything she says in her statement is 100% the truth, the charging officer received the file that day she charged the doctor, some 5 hours later. There has been no investigation done whatsoever and if this gets to trials, the "victims" will be revealed for who they really are, and quite frankly, it is disturbing. Thank God for attorneys like Dr Ogbonnaya`s attorney, it really does restore my faith in the legal profession.

That doesn`t negate the fact, that a single police officer, made the decision to publically arrest a doctor, with 19 years unblemished record, a genius in his field, who had a line of patients around his building on Saturday, based on nothing more than a hunch. To date, no charges have even been filed by the DA (this can be confirmed on the Superior Court website).

What we are dealing with here is the mere accusation of a crime, irrespective of the background of the accusers, can lead a man who has devoted his life to helping others, to being publically crucified in the press and his life, family and career destroyed by unfounded allegations, even though there are independent licensed professionals who can refute all these allegations. Add to this, the medical board, under pressure from the police, trying to suspend his license (the doctor has over 9000 patients, I am one of them, who need him to be in practice), plus his staff who need to pay their bills, this is a disgusting travesty of justice.

What is even more appalling, the so called bastions of freedom and democracy, people like Olbermann and Maddow have not even acknowledged this case. Nor has Huffington Post.

At what point do we insist that our voices in the media speak out? When we have no liberties left? By then it will be too late...This is America for Christ`s sakes, this should not be happening...

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing....

I qualified my reply simply because I have no independent knowledge of the facts, though I clearly indicated my sympathy for your position.

The people you've contacted in the media will not go on the air with a story until they've researched it. Your clear recounting of the events and the obvious passion you communicate is something that, I hope, may move them to investigate this case and report on it.

You're a good friend and a good advocate. Keep doing what you're doing. Somebody WILL take an interest and pursue this further.

mail@democracynow. org

What can be done?

but the damage that has already been done by an orchestrated press campaign is horrific...Hopefully one of the major press organisations will get behind this man...

This sounds like something they might investigate and report on.

He is getting slammed on his own story by angry posters on the New Times website.

It's not like this stuff comes as a surprise anymore. You are going to see alot more of this as the fallout for their bizarre immigration law. It just opened the floodgates for all the pent up racism that AZ has struggled with as long as it's been around.