A Provo man has been charged with pretending to be a doctor conducting research for a “new medical device” and soliciting female participants on Craigslist whom he allegedly sexually assaulted.
Borzin Mottaghian, 34, was charged Tuesday in 4th District Court with 17 felony counts based on October encounters with three women, one of whom was an undercover police officer.
The Craigslist advertisement offered to pay women $200 for participation in “anatomy research” for a new “medical device.”
The first woman police know of who responded to Mottaghian’s advertisement met with him Oct. 18, court documents say. In email correspondence before the “appointment,” Mottaghian assured the woman that an engineer and doctor would be performing the tests.
When she arrived at a small suite in Provo, the woman was alone with Mottaghian, documents say. He told her he was developing a new surgical catheter and had her sign a nondisclosure form before she disrobed from the waist down.
During the “examination,” Mottaghian allegedly photographed the woman‘s exposed genitals and sexually assaulted her with his fingers and a metal rod.
The second alleged victim similarly responded to the advertisement and met Mottaghian at the office building Oct. 19, documents say.
During this encounter, Mottaghian also allegedly led the woman to believe he was a doctor and told her he was developing a new tampon.
After having the woman sign the nondisclosure form and disrobe, Mottaghian began the same “examination.” The woman felt “disturbed by the nature of the examination, put her clothes on and excused herself to go use the restroom,” documents say.
After about 20 minutes, she told police, she returned to the examination room, where Mottaghian “convinced her to repeat the examination” before paying her the $200.
Neither of the women would have consented to the contact had they known the “true nature of the exam,” court documents say.
After the second woman reported her encounter to police, investigators began corresponding with Mottaghian via email and and set up an appointment with a female undercover police officer.
The officer scheduled an appointment with Mottaghian on Oct. 25, court documents say. During the appointment, Mottaghian “assured” her that he was a doctor, which he is not, documents say. Before the officer disrobed, police entered the suite with a search warrant and arrested Mottaghian.
Mottaghian was booked in the Utah County jail that day. After posting bail on Oct. 26, he was arrested again and is being held in lieu of $250,000, cash-only bail.
He is charged with 12 counts of object rape and two counts of attempted object rape, all first-degree feloniesy; two counts of second-degree felony forcible sex abuse; and one count of hird-degree felony attempted forcible sex abuse.
He was scheduled to make an initial appearance in 4th District Court on Tuesday afternoon.