An Algonquin dentist was sentenced to 144 days in jail and 18 months of probation Thursday for an attack on a patient that a judge called “a nightmare.”
Eman Shirazi, 44, entered a guilty plea in August to attempted criminal sexual assault with force, avoiding a jury trial. Other charges were dropped. He is required to serve at least 50% of his jail time. He also is required to register as a sex offender for life, according to prosecutors.
At his sentencing hearing, his victim, who knew Shirazi as a business acquaintance, said she had worked with him for two years. The woman said she and Shirazi had an arrangement in which she would exchange her marketing services for dental care.
She said she “trusted” and “admired” him and thought of him as a friend. But on Jan. 11, 2018, she said, Shirazi looked “like an animal” when he closed the door to his office, said dirty things to her, and put his hand up her dress and underneath her shirt.
She told him to stop and he told her to keep quiet. She still went into Shirazi’s dental chair but couldn’t explain why.
She was “frozen” and “confused,” as he called her “dirty,” and he forcefully rewired her braces, leaving the wires long enough that they pierced into the backs of her cheeks, she said.
“I started feeling that perhaps he was sending me a message to keep my mouth shut,” she said.
The woman had to use pliers to trim the wires, but she still bled for days as the wires continued to scrape her, she said.
Days later the woman conducted a conversation with Shirazi that was recorded by Algonquin police. The recording was played in court, and Shirazi is heard apologizing “for everything” and saying “it is something that will never happen again.”
When she asked why it happened he said, “I was in a crazy mood, I can’t explain it. I was stupid.
“I would like to move forward from it,” Shirazi said.
The woman, who said she is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, said she had begun to feel safe and good about her life and her growing business. After the assault she said she has nightmares and suffers post-traumatic stress disorder.
“I never felt more scared, alone or helpless,” she said. “At times I wanted to take my life.”
But as she testified, thanking the police officers who helped her and “treated her like she mattered,” she often looked at Shirazi. She concluded by saying, “I am unstoppable.”
Shirazi told McHenry County Judge Robert Wilbrandt that because of his standing in the community as a dentist and the #MeToo movement he chose not to go to jury trial and instead pleaded guilty.
He, and others who spoke on his behalf, said how much charity work he has done and how much he loves his wife and two young children. Shirazi said he needs to earn back his wife’s trust.
His attorney, Thomas Loizzo, also sought to minimize the incident in asking for leniency, saying it was “temptation that led to this particular incident.”
In handing down the sentence Wilbrandt said Shirazi’s “boorish sexual behavior was unacceptable, especially in a business setting,” adding that what he did is “a patient’s worst nightmare.”
McHenry County Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Ann Scholl said her office is alerting the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation of Shirazi’s conviction. According to the site, Shirazi still is licensed to practice as a dentist, and according to testimony, he has continued to work as a dentist at Water Tower Dental. However, the site also indicates he must be accompanied by a chaperone.
Amanda Marrazzo is a freelance reporter.
