Investigation Broadens in Dr. Thomas Tyma Case

Police in a second county have filed charges against Dr. Thomas Tyma, the Wexford doctor who has been accused of sexually assaulting patients during office exams.

Tyma of Sewickley now faces charges of indecent assault and harassment in Lawrence County in connection with an incident in early October at Jameson Hospital South Campus, according to an affidavit signed by Sgt. Kevin Seelbaugh of the New Castle police. Those charges were filed Feb. 14.

Tyma, a rheumatologist with Allegheny North Arthritis Center of Wexford, performed a breast examination on a patient at Jameson, even though her medical complaint was an arthritic knee, the affidavit stated.

The charges in that case come after Northern Regional Police also charged Tyma in connection with 14 other cases at the Wexford office.

The women are not identified because they are alleged victims of sexual assault. 

In New Castle, the female patient told police that she felt the breast exam, which was performed over her clothing, was inappropriate and unnecessary. She said she has had numerous breast examinations but never one like that, according to the affidavit.

The woman said she spoke to her husband, her gynecologist and another arthritis doctor at Allegheny North Arthritis Center about the incident, according to New Castle police.

She told police she did not decide to report the incident until after she saw news reports about Tyma's arrest for similar incidents in Wexford, the affidavit states.

Tyma, 53, of Sewickley, has been in the news since January when a Butler woman told police the doctor touched her inappropriately during an exam at the Wexford office. After police arrested him for that incident, more women contacted investigators to make similar allegations, police said.

To date, 10 women have testified that Tyma touched, squeezed or massaged their breasts during physical exams at Allegheny North Arthritis Center in Wexford.

After their testimony at a Feb. 11 preliminary hearing, Magisterial District Judge Regis Welsh ordered Tyma to stand trial on 10 counts each of indecent assault and harassment in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.

A few days later -- on the same day the New Castle charges were filed -- Northern Regional Police Officer Scott Rick filed more indecent assault and harassment charges against Tyma. Those cases involved four women. 

Tyma is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Friday on those charges in the magistrate's office in Hampton.

Another woman decided not to pursue a similar allegation, prompting Welsh to dismiss charges that had been filed in her case.