Therapist used job to molest, officials say

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Dr. William Ayres’ specialty was child psychiatry, which meant it was perfectly routine for him to be alone and behind closed doors with boys.

During a more than 40-year career in which he rose to the top of his profession, he took advantage of that to molest numerous patients, authorities say.

Ayres, 75, is charged with 18 counts of lewd and lascivious behavior involving five boys, ages 9 through 12, under his care. Prosecutors believe there were dozens more victims and plan to bring additional charges. Ayres, who was arrested earlier this month, is free on $750,000 bail.

“His reputation is being destroyed by unsubstantiated leaks and innuendoes,” said his lawyer, Doron Weinberg. “He unequivocally denies that he committed any of the acts of sexual misconduct of which he’s been accused.”

The earliest allegations of wrongdoing against him are from 1969.

If Ayres is guilty, how did he get away with so much for so long?

“It’s the perfect storm,” prosecutor Melissa McKowan said. “He has a stream of potential vulnerable victims coming through his office, all of whom have a built-in reason for not being credible if they come forward. This is a psychiatrist who’s seeing kids with some emotional, behavioral problems.”

Ayres worked at a home for troubled boys in Boston before moving in the 1960s to Northern California, where he began counseling children, mostly adolescents.

The abuse always began the same way, McKowan said, with a “physical.” Ayres asked the boys to undress, then “examined” their genitals, according to his accusers.

“I felt creepy. I felt like I had allowed it or consented. That’s why I didn’t tell anyone,” said one alleged victim, now a 43-year-old writer in Los Angeles. He sued Ayres and settled for an undisclosed sum in 2005. Authorities were thwarted in an attempt to bring criminal charges in his case because of a court ruling in an unrelated case that prevented many decades-old cases from being prosecuted.

The man’s mother said her then-12-year-old son told her the doctor had given him a physical, which struck her as odd given Ayres’ specialty.

“I remember thinking, ‘That’s strange,’ ” said the woman, a 76-year-old retired mental health professional. “But I didn’t follow up on it.”

The first documented complaint against Ayres was filed in 1987. Police decided the claim was unfounded. Another complaint was lodged in 1994, but the alleged victim refused to cooperate.

Meanwhile, Ayres rose to prominence in his field. In the late 1960s, he hosted “Time of Your Life,” a sex education series broadcast locally on public television. The series, aimed at fourth- through sixth-graders, was criticized at the time by some parents, who said it was too explicit and undermined parental authority.

Ayres was elected president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, serving from 1993 to 1995, and received accolades from county officials for his “tireless effort to improve the lives of children.”