Carrollton Chiropractor Accused of Sexual Assault

Man arrested Friday, charged with sexual assault

Another North Texas chiropractor has been accused of sexually assaulting a patient.

Chiropractor Scott Tan Viet Lai, who was arrested Friday, is accused of assaulting a female patient during a June 11 office visit.

According to a redacted arrest affidavit released Monday, the woman arrived at Lai's office for her third appointment after a car crash. She had been seeing Lai for back and neck pains.

When she arrived, she met the doctor in the parking lot, and the two walked into the office together at about 11 a.m.

The woman told police that she noticed Lai locked the door behind them after they entered and thought it was unusual.

During the exam, Lai requested she wear a gown, but she refused, according to the affidavit. During the treatment, he began massaging her back and said he needed to pull her shorts down to provide treatment to a problem area.

In the affidavit, the woman said she started to feel uncomfortable but complied because she trusted the doctor.

The woman then told police that he said he needed to adjust her tail bone and asked her to roll over onto her back. The woman said Lai then grabbed her shorts and pulled them off, saying he needed to get to the tail bone area. She said she then felt the man's hands near and inside her genitalia. The woman said she asked him what he was doing and he replied that he was putting pressure on her tail bone.

In the affidavit, the woman then told police that Lai put his head next to her ear and whispered, "Do you want me to help you relax?"

The woman told police she then pushed him away and told him that she did not think he was doing what he was supposed to do. The woman told police she was then scared for her well-being and searched for a place to run after asking to use the bathroom. Finding no easily available exit, the woman said she returned to the doctor's office to sign some papers before she was allowed to leave by the front door.

According to the affidavit, the woman said that Lai told her that she should have known what the procedure would be because she is studying to be a nurse.

(The redacted arrest affidavit can be read here and recounts the woman's allegations in greater detail.)

The woman went to a hospital emergency room, where she reported the incident and police were called.

Police have not revealed the woman's age.

Lai practices at SSC Chiropractic at 1212 N. Josey Lane and his web site lists a second location on Pioneer Parkway in Arlington. According to his web site, his clinic opened in 2002 and specifically reaches out to Vietnamese patients.

The clinic was closed Monday and no one answered the phone.

Lai is being held in the Carrollton Municipal Jail on a $100,000 bond. He has been charged with sexual assault, a second-degree felony.

In April, McKinney chiropractor Dr. David Russell was sentenced to 23 years in prison after he was convicted of sexually assaulting several of his patients, including children.

NBC 5's Brian Scott contributed to this report.

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