OSKALOOSA (MCT) — Three more prosecution witnesses took the witness stand Friday morning in the trial of Oskaloosa chiropractor Dr. Jason Ebelsheiser — including the youngest of the chiropractor’s accusers.
Ebelsheiser is standing trial for seven counts of third-degree sexual abuse. The charges stem from accusations made by female patients ranging in age from 17 to 46 during the summer of 2009. He was also charged with one count of tampering with records.
The first woman to take the stand Friday was 17 at the time of the alleged sexual abuse incident at Ebelsheiser’s office at Hometown Chiropractic.
Prosecuting attorney Susan Krisko questioned the woman about her background and the events of an alleged sex abuse incident in August 2007.
The woman said she had been to chiropractors before since she was involved in middle school and high school sports. The woman said she went to Ebelsheiser for neck and shoulder pain and not for anything related to her lower body.
In August 2007, the woman said she went to Ebelsheiser’s office for an appointment. After he adjusted her neck, she said he had her lay down on a table and bent her right knee. He was standing to her right. She said he asked permission to press down on her stomach, but then, his hand moved further down her abdomen before touching her genitals.
“I froze up. I didn’t know what was going on,” she said. She added that it was like “a bad dream ... It didn’t make sense.”
The woman testified that she confided in her sister, later, she told her mother about the alleged incident.
She went to the police after she had graduated and turned 18.
During cross-examination, defense lawyer Leon Spies asked her if Ebelsheiser asked for permission to touch her in her lower abdomen after gaining permission to touch her stomach. The woman engaged Spies in a heated exchange saying Spies was trying to trick her — she had never given permission to touch her below her underwear line.
The woman’s mother took the witness stand next.
The mother said she consulted another chiropractor about the incident and word reached Ebelsheiser. He called the mother at work. The mother said she did not know why he had to touch her daughter’s lower body. She said Ebelsheiser replied that it was necessary in the wake of the daughter’s auto accident. The mother said that the girl’s sister was involved in an auto accident.
The mother said she and her ex-husband discussed the matter and discouraged their daughter from reporting the alleged incident to the police. They did not want to ruin her senior year of high school. The alleged victim reported the incident to police after she turned 18.
The final prosecution witness of the day took the stand to allege that Ebelsheiser had abused her in 2007, about a week before she got married.
She testified that she went to Ebelsheiser for an appointment in September 2007 for upper back problems. However, she testified that Ebelsheiser worked on her upper thighs and then moved to her inner thighs. She alleged that his fingers then penetrated her genitals. She said she reported the incident a couple weeks after she was married.
The prosecution will call a couple of expert witnesses Monday and rest its case when proceedings begins again at 9 a.m.