Sunday, June 23, 2013

More old and vague charges against local shrink

I hate to defend some creepy psychologist, but I believe in innocence until proven guilty, and this guy is sitting in jail on some fishy charges. The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports:
The Capitola child psychologist accused of molesting his patients will be back in court July 26 for a preliminary hearing to determine if there's enough evidence to go to trial.

John W. Visher, 66, who lives in La Selva Beach faces 21 counts of child molestation and child pornography and is accused of abusing four victims as far back as 2001, according to prosecutors. If convicted, he could face 15 years to life in prison.

Capitola police investigated Visher in 2001 and 2005, but he was not arrested. He was arrested in September when a 9-year-old girl reported inappropriate contact with him.

The girl's family filed a civil lawsuit against Visher, which has been suspended until the end of the criminal case.

He was rearrested in May after prosecutors expanded the case by adding new counts involving three more underage victims.

The victims, both boys and girls, allegedly were molested beginning in 2001. The three additional victims include an 8-year-old boy, a now 21-year-old who was allegedly abused in 2002 and 2003, and 5-year-old boy.

Because of the statute of limitations, none of the charges stem from the case with the 5-year-old.
So there is one accusation from someone suing him, and a couple of others from 8+ years ago. I assume that there is no firm evidence against him, or they would have arrested him years ago. The memories of a child from many years ago are not reliable.

I reported previously on Visher last year. I wrote:
I wonder how psychologists like Bret Johnson, Ken Perlmutter, and Faren Akins continue to keep their licenses and testify in court, in spite of shortcomings that are obvious to everyone who deals with them. It is because the whole profession is corrupt. I really doubt that these shrinks are any better than Visher.
These other shrinks are behaving amliciously and unethically, and demonstrably harming kids. They should be the ones in jail. I cannot sue them because they have made deals with the court that shelter them from liability if they punish my kids.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Sounds like you never met the accused. Well I did. My family sought counseling from him several years ago. He was the most worthless of all the counselors out there, and there are many. He is not a nice person, he takes peoples money and he does nothing to help their problems. In our case, he made things much worse by siding only with the most errant member of our extended family. She later went to many other counselors who tried to turn her around but she felt if Visher thought she was ok, then it must be true. He is a creep who's actions have finally caught up with him. Good riddance to bad rubbish. I hope he see's us sitting in the courtroom looking at him. Who holds the power now Dr. Bill???

Unknown said...

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_23779699/child-porn-found-devices-office-accused-capitola-child

Here you go, the link to this recent article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel discusses the evidence at Visher's prelim hearing: Child Porn, hundreds of images.

Unknown said...

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_23779699/child-porn-found-devices-office-accused-capitola-child

Here you go, the link to this recent article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel discusses the evidence at Visher's prelim hearing: Child Porn, hundreds of images.

David Clohessy said...

Cops have investigated Visher. Prosecutors have charged Visher. At least one of his four accusers have sued Visher.

And law enforcement now says they've found more than 1,200 digital pictures of child pornography on a single thumb drive in Visher’s office.

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_23779699/child-porn-found-devices-office-accused-capitola-child

Still want to keep defending him? How about using your blog to urge anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered his crimes to call police and prosecutors so he might be convicted and kept away from kids?

David Clohessy
Executive Director, SNAP
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests
7234 Arsenal Street
St. Louis MO 63143
314 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com

Unknown said...

SANTA CRUZ October 30, 2013

New charges in molest case

Santa Cruz County prosecutors brought two new charges against a Capitola child psychologist already charged with 21 felony counts of child molestation.

Tuesday, prosecutor Michael Gilman filed two additional charges of felony sex crime with a child under 14 against John William Visher, 66, in light of an fifth victim coming forward.

The latest victim was 7 when the molestation started in 2002, Gilman said. The molestation was from 2002 to 2004.

The victim's mother came forward after reading about Visher's prosecution, Gilman said.

Defense attorney Doug Fox pleaded not guilty on Visher's behalf and declined to comment on the new charges.

During a September preliminary examination, Judge Samuel Stevens ruled there was sufficient evidence to hold Visher to 16 of the 21 child molestation charges. Gilman disputed the ruling and filed paperwork asking a second judge to review the evidence. The review is still pending.

Because the latest charges against Visher were not addressed in the first preliminary examination, Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Ariadne Symons ruled a second preliminary examination for the latest charges would be held Nov. 18.

If there is enough evidence to support the two new charges, they likely would be consolidated with the other charges, Gilman said.

Visher was arrested Sept. 19, 2012 at his La Selva Beach home after complaints from a patient. He posted bail but was rearrested after prosecutors filed new charges related to three other underaged victims. Visher's psychology license was suspended by the state shortly after his arrest.

A trial date of Jan. 13 is set for Visher, who is being held on $1 million bail for the first set of charges and $200,000 for the new charges.

Unknown said...

The trial for Visher did not happen in jan 2014 as planned. Does anyone know why and when it will be held or did he weasel out of this?

Anonymous said...

I believe this case is finally going to trial in Feb, or possibly March of 2017. Apparently, the defendant has been in county jail for a few years while review of videotaped counseling sessions (evidence for the defense) has proceeded in a court-approved manner.