Statement from Louie Mar Gangcuangco

In November 2016, I was maliciously accused by a male patient in his 50s that he was touched
inappropriately during a physical exam. This is absolutely NOT true and I had pleaded NOT guilty
to doing it.

It was a very busy clinic day when the alleged incident happened. There are at least 15 people at
any one time at the medical clinic. The rooms at the clinic also do not have locks. My room that day
was right in front of the nurses station and at least three other patients were scheduled to see me
that afternoon. I had to perform a full physical exam on the patient because he was due for a yearly
check-up and had abnormal lab results that needed a groin exam. He consented to the
examination. He even scheduled a follow-up appointment with me after 3 months. One week later,
the patient started harassing me on the phone accusing me why did you do that? I repeatedly
denied his allegations. A few weeks later, I was shocked to see that I had a warrant of arrest.

The reasons for this false accusation became clear when we hired an investigator to perform a
background check on him. We found out that he has an extensive criminal history of violent crimes,
including multiple counts of murder, that I even fear for my own safety. My lawyer told me that the
patient allegedly wanted hundreds of thousands of dollars to let the case go. I am innocent and I
vowed to clear my name.

We fought hard to get this case dismissed. I was afraid how a jury trial composed of American
citizens would judge me without considering that I am both a foreigner and an openly gay person.
We presented all counter-evidences against this false accusation. We finally reached a resolution
in December 19, 2017: I agreed to a probation program where I continue to plead NOT guilty but
willing to let the case remain pending for another year. If I am not re-arrested in the U.S. in the next
12 months, the case will be dismissed. An outright dismissal was what I hoped for, but I did not
have much of a choice. To clarify, the program is legally called Accelerated Pretrial Rehabilitation.
I am not sure why it is called as such, but I am not in any sort of rehabilitation whatsoever. The
only conditions set for me are (1) not call/contact the patient and (2) not have any arrests in the
U.S. for the next 12 months.

My Program Director, the Chairman of Medicine, and even a social worker wrote letters to the
judge to defend me. Unfortunately, it was a struggle getting my contract and J1 visa renewed with
the case pending. We will re-convene when the case is finally over. I was able to re-enter the U.S.
using a B1/B2 (business/tourist) visa to appear in court.

Because of my silence, I had been painted to be the villain in this story; but in reality, I am the
victim here. The false accusations did not only cause me so much emotional damage, but most
importantly, it hurt my family and the people whom I love. My mother called me and she was crying
on the phone when she initially heard about what happened. It has tormented her day and night. I
told God that I am strong and I will survive this, but leave my family alone. I grew up struggling
financially and my grandmother worked as a hotel cleaner in California just to help support my
medical education. We crawled our way out of poverty. I starved myself in Japan as an HIV
research fellow just to save money to take the US Licensure exams. I studied for the U.S. boards
while working full time as an HIV researcher in Hawaii. I will never do such thing to destroy
everything I had worked hard for.

When I became a doctor, I swore by the hippocratic oath. I became a doctor to help others and do
no harm. I truly care about my patients, all my coworkers and supervisors can vouch for that. I will
not let this false accusation stop me from doing good things. I will continue my work with my chin
up. I will not allow evil triumph and stop me from promoting HIV awareness and helping those who
are in need.