Stephen Matthews, Denver, Colorado cardiologist found guilty of sexually assaulting, drugging his female victims in a calculated, strategic manner as doctor weeps after convicted on 35 counts.
A Denver, Colorado cardiologist was found guilty of 35 counts of drugging and sexually assaulting women he met on online dating websites.
Stephen Matthews, 36, had been on trial for the past several weeks – having been charged with 38 counts – all of which are felonies.
Despite pleading not guilty in October 2023 to all counts – Matthews was found guilty of nearly all counts of sexual assault brought against him by jurors in Denver on Tuesday.
Who was the real Stephen Matthews Denver cardiologist unsuspecting women were meeting?
Prosecutors described the Denver cardiologist preying on his female victims in a ‘calculated-strategic’ manner online, specifically through dating apps, where he would go on to drug and sexually assault them. The doctor was charged with drugging 11 of his victims and sexually assaulting nine of them.
Matthews was seen breaking down in court as the judge read dozens of guilty verdicts, at different times putting his head in his hands and weeping.
The former doctor had remained in custody at the Denver jail on a $5 million bond since his arrest in March 2023, 9News reported.
He faces a minimum of five years in jail – and a maximum sentence of 25 years. His sentencing is set for October 25.
Prosecutors emphasized in closing arguments last week that each victim offered very similar accounts of what happened.
The women said they met Matthews through online dating apps, such as Hinge and Tinder, beginning in 2019 and continuing through to early 2023.
They were under the impression they were having drinks with the cardiologist, but then lost all memory of what happened next – and woke up to believe they had been drugged and sexually assaulted, in some cases.
Entitled to perpetrate
Following Tuesday’s decision – one of the victims told CBS, ‘A verdict doesn’t change what happened to you. There are lifelong physical and emotional things that I will be dealing with as a result of what happened to me.’
‘I think he’s not sorry for what he did. I think he’s sorry he got caught,’ she continued.
‘He took away years of our life,’ another said.
Prosecutors maintained Matthews was strategic in identifying his targets – meeting them at locations near his home, before inviting them over.
‘What we do know is that this is an obvious, obvious case of a man who feels entitled to perpetrate against women for his own benefit, by robbing them of memory, by robbing them of bodily autonomy, and by impairing their memories,’ prosecutors said.
Defense attorneys argued that the case included many inconsistent stories from the alleged victims – without any proof of evidence.
‘This would be a case about stories, and at the end of the case, the DA’s closing rested largely on stories, accusing stories that changed and often went untested by the government,’ defense attorneys said.
Abused perception of authority and trust
‘The case did have a lot of overwhelming emotion. We all were moved by the testimony that you heard. It was tough to listen to, but that’s what the case ended up being about, overwhelming emotion and underwhelming evidence.’
Stephen J. Burg represented dozens of Matthews’s alleged victims in a civil case.
He said the victims’ stories were all very similar: ‘He would build trust and then get them to have a drink, usually close to his home, and drug them in that drink,’ Burg alleges.
‘They would be very, very impaired and not know what was going on. And he would sexually assault them.’
‘He was very savvy and able to build trust. He’d say ‘Let’s meet in a public place,’ and talk about his dog and then oftentimes use that as an excuse to head back to his house or apartment,’ Burg said.
Unsaid is how the doctor relied on his credentials as a cardiologist to build an implied trust and the appearance of a high status male, which the doctor intuitively knew would curry him credence to his unsuspecting female victims.
