CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — A doctor working at the Veterans Affairs health care facility in Clarksburg on Thursday was indicted after allegedly touching two female staff members without their permission.
Dr. Kenneth Ramdat, 65, of Silver Springs, Maryland, faces two counts of abusive sexual contact and two counts of simple assault. He allegedly touched the breasts of the employees.
Ramdat worked as a family medicine specialist at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center.
If found guilty, Ramdat could serve two years in prison for each abusive sexual contact charge and six months in prison for the simple assault charges. He would also have to pay fines of up to $250,000 for each abusive sexual contact charge and up to $10,000 for the simple assault charges.
U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., issued separate statements on the allegations.
“Sexual harassment — under any circumstances and in any setting — is simply unacceptable. It has absolutely no place in our society and certainly has no place in the workplace,” Capito said. “I’m disturbed by the allegations in today’s indictment brought against one of the Clarksburg VA’s physicians. If the charges announced today are proven, then the individual responsible should be held fully accountable for his criminal acts.”
Manchin noted the indictment as another example of problems at the medical facility; former nursing assistant Reta Mays entered a guilty plea in July for the deaths of eight veterans after injecting the patients with unneccasry doses of insulin.
“How many more West Virginians and Veterans must endure this inexcusable treatment before action is taken to fix these systemic issues?” Manchin said. “As a pattern of negligence continues to emerge, action must be taken to right these wrongs.”