Parade of women testifies against Wyoming chiropractor in alleged groping case

Published: 2009-07-04 00:09:28
Author: Barton Deiters | The Grand Rapids Press | June 16, 2009

GRAND RAPIDS -- A parade of women took the stand in Kent County Circuit Court Tuesday to accuse a Wyoming chiropractor of a range of inappropriate behavior. The allegations included fondling, asking women to expose themselves, looking at pornography and serving shots of Jagermeister and Pabst Blue Ribbon in the disco ball-decorated bar in the basement of his 36th Street SW office.

"It's like Animal House meets a chiropractic office," said Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Becker, describing the basement bar where chiropractor Gregory Alan Freeman entertained friends and allegedly a select group of patients.

But Freeman's attorney, Charles Rominger Jr., warned jurors in Freeman's trial to remember his client's like-ability is not the issue, but whether he is guilty of three counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct against two women.

"It has nothing to do with what was going on in the basement. It's not about having provocative pictures. It's not even about looking at pornography," said Rominger in his opening statement. "It is the government's intent to mock Mr. Freeman."

Becker told the jury the case is about a violation of trust, and that Freeman took advantage of his position for his own sexual gratification and his fixation on female breasts.

One of the two victims named in the charges was a former part-time employee, who said she was getting free treatment from Freeman.

The Press does not name alleged victims of sexual assault.

She said over the course of about a year she worked there, starting in mid-2006, Freeman would make comments about her body, use her computer to look at porn and then groped her breasts under the guise of using "applied kinesiology." It's a controversial technique within chiropractic circles that in part uses the massaging of lymph nodes to promote the drainage of those nodes and improve overall organ function.

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