St. Petersburg Times (Florida)

December 10, 1996, Tuesday, 1 North Pinellas Edition

Psychiatrist faces sex charges

SECTION: METRO & STATE; Pg. 3B

LENGTH: 215 words

DATELINE: LARGO

A Clearwater psychiatrist whose medical license was restricted in October was arrested Monday on sex charges.
Pinellas County Jail records say Richard Morales, 45, of 1261 11th St. SW, Largo was charged with two counts of sexual misconduct by a psychotherapist. He also was charged with battery on a firefighter.
He was released from jail on $ 65,000 bail. Attempts to contact him Monday night were unsuccessful. Details of the criminal sexual misconduct charges were not available Monday.
Morales’ license was restricted on an emergency basis in October after state officials said he fondled a woman during an examination.
A specialist in stress management and treatment of chronic pain, Morales was banned from seeing female patients without a licensed female health care practitioner in the room. He also was ordered to keep his door open when a patient was in his office.
According to the emergency order, he took photographs of a patient’s nude torso and breasts and fondled her.
Arrest records said the battery charge was filed after Morales attacked a paramedic at an accident scene. The records said Morales purposely drove his car into a tree on Nov. 1 in Largo and had to be restrained when paramedics attempted to treat his injuries.