Ex-fugitive Santa Rosa chiropractor gets 10-year prison term for molesting patients

SANTA ROSA -- Former Santa Rosa chiropractor Darius Bunyad was sentenced to 10 years in state prison more than five years after he was convicted of molesting patients between 2012 and 2017.

Bunyad, aka Daryoush Bunyad, of Petaluma, was sentenced Monday by Judge Dana Simonds after a jury in 2017 found him guilty of committing six counts of felony sexual battery by fraud and multiple additional misdemeanor offenses.

In a news release from the office of the Sonoma County District Attorney, prosecutors said the convictions covered crimes against eight separate female patients, five of whom were minors at the time, the youngest being 15 years old. Some of the victims were also employed by Bunyad in his office.

Prosecutors said the 41-year-old Bunyad improperly touched his victims' breasts and other parts of their bodies, all while under the guise that it was for the purposes of legitimate chiropractic treatment.

After 12 days of a trial in 2017, Bunyad failed to appear in court on March 8, 2017 and was convicted the next day in absentia of multiple charges: six felony counts of sexual battery by fraud, six misdemeanor violations of annoying or molesting a child, and simple battery.

In 2019, Bunyad was arrested in Mexico and extradited to Sonoma County, prosecutors said.

During the sentencing hearing, District Attorney victim advocate Gina Raith read aloud the written statements of three of the victims. Each described the long-term impact and damage that Bunyad's crimes had caused them.

The judge ordered Bunyad to register as a sex offender for life.

The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Jason Riehl. Santa Rosa Police Department handled the investigation.