Jury Convicts Psychologist Heath Sommer: Sexually Exploited Victims of Sexual Assault

December 4, 2018

A former staff psychologist at Travis Air Force Base was found guilty Friday of six felony sexual assault charges for luring victims of sexual assault into having sex with him, claiming it was part of their treatment for post-traumatic stress problems.

Heath J. Sommer is looking at a possible prison sentence of 11 years and eight months, according to Deputy District Attorney Brian Roberts, who successfully prosecuted the complex case. Prosecutors had invoked the seldom-filed charges of rape by “the perpetrator’s fraudulent representation that the sexual penetration served a professional purpose when it served no professional purpose.”

The jury’s verdict came after six days of deliberation closing out a six-week jury trial.

Sommer, who had treated patients at David Grant Medical Center, treated two women in 2014 and 2015. The 42-year-old psychologist used a technique called exposure therapy that his female patients, all officers in the Air Force, testified in the trial included sex acts that compounded the emotional damage caused by their past sexual assaults.

Sommer did not take the witness stand in his trial.

Two of Sommer’s victims testified in detail about their encounters with their therapist. Jurors spent days reviewing their testimony during their deliberations.

One woman, a colonel, recalled Sommer telling her at their third session in 2014 that he was going to start using exposure therapy. He orchestrated moving their sessions off-base to his home, where he then told her he wanted to treat her by having her re-experience every facet of her sexual assault by three British soldiers.

Sommer had the officer repeatedly describe the details of her sexual assault she endured at a training facility in Afghanistan. She told him about the dirty facility and recalled the taste of partially cooked goat meat she had been served by Afghans before the assault, the investigator said. Sommer then got dirt out of his backyard and had the officer put it in her mouth and had her eat meat from leftover Chinese food out of his refrigerator.

That was followed by his recommending she have a “positive and loving” sexual experience, so he took her into the master bedroom of his home while his wife stayed in the kitchen. Then he put his hand over her mouth and had sex with her, according to the testimony. After that therapy session, in the next two months she had sex with Sommer nine more times at his home. The last time came after she spent the night at his house, sleeping with Sommer and his wife. When she woke up, he started to have sex with her before she told him to stop, then got up and left.

Another victim patient described Sommer’s “exposure therapy” in 2015 had included his standing up in his office during a treatment session, unzipping his pants, exposing himself and having her orally copulate him. The treatment was interrupted by voices in the hallway outside his office, but was later resumed. Their next session included his kissing and groping her breasts and offering to reciprocate for the previous session.

After the jury’s verdict Sommer’s attorney, Thomas Maas, told Judge E. Bradley Nelson he intended to file a motion for a new trial before Sommer is set to be sentenced Jan. 25.

Source: "Jury finds former Travis psychologist guilty in sexual abuse case," Solano County Daily Republic, December 3, 2018, URL: https://www.dailyrepublic.com/all-dr-news/solano-news/crime-solano-county-courts/jury-finds-former-travis-psychologist-guilty-in-sexual-abuse-case/comment-page-1/