More details are emerging about the a case involving California brain surgeon who was fired by a local hospital after two weeks amid allegations of involvement in sex acts with children after he pleaded not guilty to 10 felony charges on Friday.
James Kohut entered the plea in a Santa Cruz County, California Superior court to charges resulting from allegedly sexually assaulting two boys and a girl under 14 years old as part of a child sex ring with seven different victims.
Kohut was arrested May 14 in his Santa Cruz, California home. He had been hired by Sparks Regional Medical Services in early May but had not made the move to Arkansas before his arrest. He was fired by Sparks two days after his arrest.
Kohut remains jailed at the Santa Cruz Detention Center awaiting a July 27 bond hearing. Six of the ten charges can result in life sentences. Kohut is accused of having sex with a boy and girl younger than 10 years old, and a boy younger than 14 years old, since Jan. 1, 2016, according to court documents.
Kohut, who has an active license to practice medicine in California, hired Santa Cruz attorney Jay Rorty to replace San Jose attorney Nicholas Cvietkovich, who withdrew from the case.
During the hearing, accused child molester Rashel Brandon, a former Dominican Hospital nurse, also made an appearance. Brandon is accused of conspiring with Kohut and Pima County, Arizona nurse Emily Stephens to sexually assault children.
The evidence presented in the case according to the incident and arrest report furnished by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff office is as follows:
On May 9, a Watsonville resident gave police a video, shot in March, of the two nurses, Brandon and Stephens, having sex with children as young as 3 years old in a Scotts Valley motel, Watsonville police said.
The evidence triggered allegations that Kohut also had forced girls and boys to have sex with him multiple times since Jan. 1, 2016, according to court documents
The first arrested was Brandon, 42, at her four-bedroom Cirvelo Street home in Watsonville about 7:30 p.m. May 10.
Police linked evidence to Stephens, 29, who remains in custody, according to jail records.
Evidence seized May 14 at a Santa Cruz home fueled the third arrest: of Kohut, 57, a former Palo Alto Medical Foundation doctor.
On May 9, in the presence of the two nurses, Kohut allegedly sodomized, had intercourse and oral sex with two boys younger than 10 years old, according to court documents.
Assistant District Attorney Steve Moore said the case likely will be lengthy with volumes of reports. Moore also said the new attorney’s appointment doesn’t change the course of the case.
Dennis W. McCaslin
Dennis McCaslin has been a longtime news and sports reporter for several media outlets in the Fort Smith area. He has also been a well known radio personality and play-by-play announcer for several years prior to joining InsideFortSmith.Com. He is the voice of the ArklahomaSports High School Game of the Week. E-mail: [email protected]
