A former neurologist who practiced in Mercer County is charged with committing sex crimes against patients in Hopewell Township and in New York City, with the New York case being handled first.
Ricardo A. Cruciani, 64, was scheduled to appear on Aug. 2 in a Manhattan criminal court, where he faces charges involving six victims starting in 2013 during the time he worked at Mount Sinai Beth Israel. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.’s office said this week the case is pending and Cruciani is free on $1 million bail.
He was to appear before a judge on July 30 in state Superior Court, Trenton, where he faces a 23-count indictment, but that was postponed until later in September.
Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office spokeswoman Casey A. DeBlasio said on July 30 that 11 victims have come forward. Authorities have said there is some overlap in victims in the cases from New Jersey and New York.
In New Jersey, Cruciani had worked at Capital Health’s Institute of Neurosciences as a chief neurologist there, the prosecutor’s office has said.
“All of the acts are alleged to have occurred at Capital in Hopewell,” DeBlasio said by email on July 30.
In Mercer County, Cruciani was initially indicted in March on charges involving seven women. When more alleged victims came forward, authorities obtained, in May, a superseding indictment charging him with sexual assault and sexual contact. He faces a mix of second-degree and fourth-degree charges, all spanning January 2014 to January 2016. Second-degree charges carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
His next scheduled court date in New Jersey was set for Sept. 24, for a status conference on his case.
“He’s dealing with charges from two different jurisdictions that are serious charges,” said Rocco Cipparone, Cruciani’s lawyer in the Mercer County case. “He’s doing incredibly well given the stressors that puts on anybody.”
Cipparone said his preference is for the New York case to be prosecuted first. He said that matter is further along and said he wants to have Cruciani focus “in the defense on the case that’s right in front of him. It’s very difficult to focus on two cases at the same time.”
Cruciani, of Wynewood, Pa., pleaded guilty in Philadelphia in November 2017 to charges of indecent assault and harassment involving female patients of his in that city. The deal with prosecutors required him to give up his medical license in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and to register as a sex offender. He received seven years’ probation.
Cruciani worked at Drexel University as the head of its neurology department, but he was fired in 2017.
His days of practicing medicine are over. Cruciani and the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners reached an agreement for him to give up his medical license in the state permanently, according to a consent order both sides signed in April. The agreement stipulated that Cruciani can never apply for his license “to practice medicine in New Jersey at any future time.”
