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Lincoln Esguerra Carillo, a 60-year-old chiropractor, is accused of molesting seven women in Irvine. | Photo courtesy of the Orange County District Attorney's Office
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A 60-year-old chiropractor arrested in Virginia is being held in an Orange County jail after being charged with sex crimes involving seven female patients in Irvine, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Lincoln Esguerra Carillo was charged with seven counts of felony sexual penetration by means of fraudulent representation of professional purpose, four counts of sexual battery involving an unconscious person and a dozen misdemeanor counts of touching an intimate part of another person, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
Carillo, who was arrested in Virginia last week and transported to California on Monday, was being held on $1 million bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Friday, according to the DA’s Office.
He faces a maximum state prison sentence of 24 years if convicted.
According to prosecutors, Carillo worked at Twins Chiropractic in Irvine for approximately four years, during which he treated a female patient multiple times for chronic neck pain between April and May 2021. During seven of the visits, Carillo is accused of sexually assaulting the woman. The woman reported the sexual assaults to the Irvine Police Department in May 2021.
Through the course of their investigation, Irvine police allegedly identified six more victims of sex crimes who had been treated by Carillo at Twins Chiropractic between January and August of 2021, including a woman who required chiropractic care after being injured in a car accident.
Investigators believe Carillo had ties to chiropractic offices in Artesia, Los Angeles, Fountain Valley, Seal Beach, Long Beach, Irvine, Orange, Upland, Cerritos, Costa Mesa, Placentia, Garden Grove, Riverside and Herndon, Virginia.
Due to his extensive connections throughout Southern California and extending to the East Coast, authorities believe there may be additional victims. Anyone with additional information is asked to contact Irvine Police Detective Nate Ridlon at nridlon@cityofirvine.org.
“Dr. Carillo exploited the high level of trust we place in our medical professionals, to prey upon his victims,” Irvine Police Chief Michael Kent said in a statement. “I am thankful for the brave victim that had the courage to come forward and expose his pattern of abuse.
“A tremendous amount of investigative work went into identifying and interviewing Dr. Carillo’s patients to locate additional victims and present a case to the district attorney that would support criminal charges,” Kent added.
