Dentist sentenced in rape of patient

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(AP)
Former Bethesda dentist David Fuster who now awaits sentencing in a case where he is alleged to have raped a young patient.

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - A former Bethesda dentist who fled to Mexico before he could be sentenced in the rape of a 15-year-old female patient four years ago will now serve 20 years in a Maryland prison.

David Fuster, 51, told Judge D. Warren Donohue on Wednesday he was not guilty of raping the girl while she was under sedation in his office in 2001, adding that he fled with his wife and five children out of fear.

He was arrested at a resort on the Yucatan Peninsula in April and extradited to Maryland in September, court spokesman Seth Zucker said.

The victim, who is now 21, attended Wednesday’s sentencing. She told the judge that she lived in constant fear while Fuster was on the run.

State’s Attorney John McCarthy called Fuster’s sentencing an “appropriate reflection of the horrific nature of his crime.”

“The defendant violated the trust of a young girl on a multitude of levels,” McCarthy said. “Not only was he an adult who had care of a juvenile, but he was a dentist who had care of a patient. He used the tools of his trade to rape a 15-year-old child.”

Fuster, a citizen of Peru, was convicted in May 2003 of second-degree rape, child abuse and third-degree sex offenses.

He was allowed to remain out of prison on bail before his July 2003 sentencing because of an agreement between his lawyer and prosecutors in the State’s Attorney’s Office, which was under direction of Attorney General Doug Gansler at the time.

Fuster will be eligible for parole in 10 years.

Under the extradition agreement, Fuster cannot be charged with additional crimes in the case, Zucker said.

cmabeus@dcexaminer.com

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