A settlement was reached between a retired physician and a man who alleged he was molested by the doctor at age 17 in 2003, after the pair met through an online chat room, court papers obtained Wednesday show.
Lawyers for the plaintiff, identified only as John CJ Doe, filed a notice of settlement Feb. 18 with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elaine Lu. No terms were divulged concerning the resolution with the defendant, Dr. Peter Kraus.
No criminal charges were ever filed against Kraus, plaintiff’s attorney Vince Finaldi said.
According to the plaintiff’s court papers, he moved to Los Angeles from Seattle in 2003 to attend Cal State Northridge, after graduating from high school a year early with a near-perfect grade point average.
Just before Doe went to Los Angeles, his mother died of a heart attack and the plaintiff, coping with the sudden loss, found himself living on his own at age 17 in a new city. Shortly thereafter, he met Kraus, a retired physician who was then 52 years old, in a chat room called gay.com, according to the plaintiff’s court papers.
He alleged that Kraus sent him flirtatious messages to coax him into accepting future sexual abuse.
About two weeks later, Kraus drove Doe to the doctor’s West Hollywood home and plied the plaintiff with alcohol, the suit alleged.
Doe told Kraus he was 17 years old, but the doctor replied, “I don’t care” and kissed the plaintiff on the lips, Doe’s court papers stated.
After that day, Kraus repeatedly orally copulated, sodomized and molested Doe on at least a weekly basis for almost an entire year, each time while the plaintiff was under the influence of alcohol, Doe’s court papers alleged.
Doe said he was unable to finish his college education because of the psychological impact of Kraus’ alleged sexual abuse.
In their court papers, lawyers for Kraus maintained the doctor believed Doe was an adult, saying the plaintiff misrepresented his age on the dating website. They also argued that some of Doe’s claims were filed too late.
Based upon pretrial discovery, including Kraus’ deposition, his personal net worth is more than $48 million, Doe’s court papers stated.
