Sex abuse victim ‘pissed’ that Iowa physician, now facing new charges, was allowed to practice

A physician has been charged with two counts of second-degree sexual abuse, accused of inappropriately touching a child born in 2015, according to court documents.

The Ankeny Police Department and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation arrested 72-year-old Lynn Lindaman in the early morning of June 28.

The incidents occurred June 26, the criminal complaint says. Lindaman has not yet entered a plea in the case.

On Monday, after an hourlong discussion in closed session, the Iowa Board of Medicine voted unanimously to approve Lindaman's "agreement not to practice," according to documents on the board's website.

The agreement, which Lindaman voluntarily submitted, stipulates that the physician will not engage "in any aspect of the practice of medicine under his Iowa medical license until further order of the board."

His medical license had been set to expire in late 2024.

Board of Medicine members had no discussion on the agreement during the public portions of Monday's meeting. The meeting, which was not one of the board's regularly scheduled meetings, was announced just days after Lindaman's arrest.

Lindaman did not make any admissions related to his two charges in the agreement. However, "due to the seriousness of the allegations," board documents state that the two parties voluntarily entered into the agreement "to allow time for the criminal case to be resolved in Polk County District Court."

This is not the first time Lindaman has been accused of sexual abuse of a minor.

Sherri Moler of Eldridge filed a lawsuit against Lindaman in May seeking damages for anxiety and depression after he was convicted of assaulting her in 1976.

For the past three years, even before filing her civil case, Moler had lobbied the Iowa Board of Medicine to take action against Lindaman and prevent him from seeing patients. She said she worries that the board's inaction on her concerns resulted in another child being placed in harm's way.

“I’m pissed. The fact that it happened since I've been begging and petitioning the medical board to revoke his license just sickens me. This was preventable," Moler told the Des Moines Register. “There didn’t have to be another victim. If they would have done their job, the one job that they have to protect the public, that child would not have been put in harm's way.”

Lynn Lindaman was convicted of a sex crime in 1976

In July 1975, Moler was 14 and attended a summer sports camp for gymnasts at the University of Iowa. Lindaman, then 24, was at the camp working as a counselor and athletic trainer.

The lawsuit alleges Lindaman sexually assaulted Moler while treating an injury to her back. He was later arrested, and on Feb. 26, 1976, a jury found him guilty of lascivious acts with a person under the age of 16.

He received a deferred judgment at sentencing, according to court documents. Public documents of the case have been expunged.

Lindaman was not required to disclose the charge and deferred judgment when he applied for a state medical license in 1987, according to documents provided to the Register.

However, officials with the state medical board said licensure applications are now required to disclose all misdemeanors and felonies, even if a judgment was withheld by the court and there was no record of conviction. That means applicants must disclose if they received a deferred judgment, if they received an executive pardon or if the conviction was expunged.

Lindaman went on to become an orthopedic surgeon in West Des Moines, where he operated Lindaman Orthopaedics until May 1, when the clinic's website says he stopped seeing patients.

Court records do not yet indicate an attorney in the new criminal case.

In 2020, Sherri Moler petitioned Iowa board to revoke Lindaman's license

It wasn't until 2020 that Moler learned that Lindaman was practicing medicine in Iowa and had been seeing patients for decades after he was convicted of assaulting her as a child.

Moler said she filed a complaint with the Iowa Board of Medicine in July 2020, but the board declined to revoke Lindaman's license.

In an email to the Register, a spokesperson for the Board of Medicine said licensee complaints and investigative files are not released to the public "due to confidentiality provisions in Iowa law."

"Iowans can be assured that every complaint is thoroughly evaluated to determine if a physician violated Iowa law or the administrative code. The Board takes its responsibility to regulate the practice of medicine and protect the safety of all Iowans very seriously," according to a statement from Stefanie Bond, communications director for the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals, which will soon oversee the board.

The board had previously said in a letter to Moler that the complaint was confidential under state law. A second letter sent to Moler in January 2022 again refused to disclose details of the investigation, and reaffirmed the board's decision.

"After careful review of the investigative materials obtained in this matter, the Board voted to close this matter at this time without taking public disciplinary action against Lindaman," the letter states. "Although this may not be the outcome you were seeking, you can be assured that your complaint was investigated and the Board reached its decision after full review of the investigative record."

For three years, Moler attended public meetings of the Board of Medicine, telling her story and demanding board members to enact policies to prevent medical professionals who have received deferred judgments from practicing medicine. Since the board made its ruling, Moler said she has received no acknowledgement from board members of her concerns during those public meetings.

Moler said she also reached out to health systems and other associations with whom Lindaman has been affiliated to inform them of the 1970s case. Among those was U.S. Track and Field, which lists on its website that Lindaman was at one time the president of the Iowa chapter of the organization.

A database of disciplinary action by the United States Center for SafeSport, created in 2017 to protect athletes from abuse, shows Lindaman was deemed ineligible to participate with U.S. Track and Field in April 2022. The disciplinary board stated he was sanctioned due to a criminal disposition involving a minor. No other information was given, and SafeSport could not immediately be reached for comment.

Danny Frey, a spokesperson for Drake University Athletics, said Moler reached out to the university in March of 2022 regarding Lindaman. He said the university received notice of Lindaman's ineligibility with SafeSport "in the same timeframe."

"Following that notification, Lynn Lindaman has had no involvement with the Drake Relays or associated events," he wrote in an email to the Des Moines Register.

Moler wants more oversight of Board of Medicine: 'This was so preventable'

Now, Moler said she wants the Iowa Board of Medicine to be held accountable. She said she wants additional oversight of the state board to ensure it is acting appropriately in cases like hers.

“I just keep thinking this was so preventable, and my heart is absolutely breaking for this new victim," Moler said. "I know what the last 47 years have looked like for me because of this. Even if that child gets the appropriate counseling and mental health support, it's going to change their life forever."

“I tried. I did absolutely everything I could think of, and I couldn't fix this," she said.

Reporter Francesca Block contributed to this story.

Noelle Alviz-Gransee is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register. Follow her on Twitter @NoelleHannika or email her at NAlvizGransee@registermedia.com.

Michaela Ramm covers health care for the Des Moines Register. She can be reached at mramm@registermedia.com, at (319) 339-7354 or on Twitter at @Michaela_Ramm

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa physician accused of sex abuse of child; was convicted in 1970s