Former pediatrician charged with child rape and sex assault faces judge

BROCKTON ‒ Former Norwell pediatrician Richard Kauff , once employed by South Shore Medical Center , was arraigned Friday morning in Plymouth County Superior Court on 20 counts of sexual assault, including 11 counts of child rape.

After the July 12 hearing, Kauff's defense attorney Kelli Porges shielded her client from press questions as Kauff and two family members walked to their car.

"For 40 years he has served generations of patients without a whisper of impropriety," Porges said in a defiant tone.

She attributed the accusations of some three dozen women and one girl to "civil suits" and "hysteria."

On June 28, a Plymouth County grand jury indicted Kauff on charges he sexually assaulted 15 former patients. In addition to the nine counts of child rape, Kauff has been charged with eight counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.

A separate indictment was later filed, including two more counts of child rape and one additional count of indecent assault on a child under 14.

Inside the courtroom Friday, Kauff pleaded not guilty to all 20 counts of sexual assault.

When Kauff was arraigned in Hingham District Court last year, he was released on $50,000 cash bail and numerous conditions, including a stay-away order from his accusers and the South Shore Medical offices where he worked.

Kauff was also ordered not to have contact with children under 16 without supervision. At Friday's hearing, Judge Robert Gordon revised that order to allow Kauff to visit his grandchild under the age of 1.

The 17 indictments refer to allegations covering a 23-year period, according to the Plymouth County District Attorney's office . Kauff had worked as a pediatrician since 1983, seeing patients in Kingston and Norwell offices of South Shore Medical until his retirement in 2022.

At a previous hearing in Hingham District Court, Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Kusmin said Kauff would spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted.

More than 36 people have come forward with allegations of sexual abuse against Kauff. After a grand jury investigation, prosecutors determined that 15 of those cases could be successfully prosecuted due to the statute of limitations and other legal issues, according to a written statement from the DA's office.

On Oct. 4, 2023, a former patient of Kauff posted anonymously to a local Facebook page that she was sexually assaulted during regular annual checkups.

Another woman replied, saying she had similar experiences. In the ensuing exchange of messages, the women discovered they had the same pediatrician, Kauff, at South Shore Medical Center, according to a Norwell police report.

The women met with Norwell police detectives separately, and their accounts share a number of similarities, the police report states, including that Kauff digitally penetrated them on the examination table, sometimes with a parent in the room with them.

After Norwell police filed charges against Kauff last October , more than three dozen people reported similar experiences with Kauff, which prompted an "extensive grand jury investigation," the news release reports.

Assistant District Attorneys Shana Buckingham and Kusmin are prosecuting the case. Kauff is being defended by attorney Kelli Lea Porges.

Peter Blandino covers Quincy for The Patriot Ledger. Contact him at pblandino@patriotledger.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Former pediatrician charged with child rape and sex assault faces judge