Clinton doctor charged with sex assault

CLINTON, Conn. (WTNH) -- A Clinton doctor has been arrested after several of his former patients accused him of sexual assault.

Police say the assaults on the three women happened at the Clinton Community Health Center between 2010 and 2012. Forty-three-year-old Dr. Tory Westbrook turned himself in to police early Tuesday morning after three warrants were issued for his arrest for second-degree sexual assault.

"We had an inital victim come forward and indicated she was sexually assaulted while under Dr. Westbrook's care," said Sgt. Jeremiah Dunn, Clinton Police Department.

Westbrook left the clinic in February to take a position at Charter Oak Health Center in Hartford. A spokesperson for the health clinic released a statement to News 8.

It reads, in part: "Within days of Dr. Westbrook's resignation, we received a serious complaint related to patient care that concerned us. Following our own guidelines, we immediately notified the Clinton Police Department and Connecticut's Department of Public Health."

"These by nature are very difficult, because there is very limited evidence, allegations that were made over time, so there's really no physical evidence to get ahold of right away," said Sgt. Dunn.

Two of the victims are being represented by former Chief State's Attorney Christopher Morano. Westbrook's attorney is well-known defense lawyer Norm Pattis, who says his client will again practice medicine as an innocent man.

"Counselor, people will look at this and say, 'where there's smoke, there's fire...' with three claims here, how do you defend that," asked News 8's Jamie Muro.

"They used to say the same thing at Salem, where there's smoke there's fire, a historical witch hunt, we now know people were hung in error," replied Pattis. "I say to everyone be calm, let the facts speak for themselves. I do know that two of the so-called victims have a lawyer, they went to Chris Morano, he was on the news encouraging more victims to come forward. Maybe I have some questions for Mr. Morano under oath, what side of the bread is he trying to butter with this nonsense?"