New Mexico Psychiatrist Mark Beale to Be Sentenced on Criminal Sex and Federal Controlled Substance Charges

August 27, 2021

LAS CRUCES - A local psychiatrist accused of sexually assaulting women who were also his patients pleaded no contest to several charges on Tuesday.

Mark Beale, 74, pleaded no contest to two counts of felony criminal sexual penetration in the third degree, 12 counts of misdemeanor criminal sexual contact, and two counts of petty misdemeanor battery, according to a plea and disposition agreement.

When pleading no contest, a person is not admitting to the crimes they're accused of. Instead, they're conceding that a reasonable jury would probably find them guilty if the case went to trial.

Beale was arrested in April 2019 after a half dozen of his patients, all women, came forward with allegations of rape, harassment or abuse.

In addition to the sexual assault charges Beale faces in the Third Judicial District Court, Beale is charged with the unlawful dispensing and distributing of a schedule II controlled substance in U.S. District Court. Many of the same women who alleged Beale sexually assaulted them told police that Beale provided them medication they didn't need.

Beale's plea in Third Judicial District Court included a recommendation that he serves a seven-year prison sentence followed by a period of probation. He'll also be required to register as a sex offender for life. However, both parties recommended in the plea agreement that the court hold off on sentencing Beale until he was sentenced in a federal court.

Gary Mitchell, Beale's defense attorney, said that Beale won't begin his serving his sentence until after the federal case concludes. When that case does conclude, Beale will report to prison as a federal prisoner, Mitchell said.

On Tuesday, Beale went before Third Judicial District Court Judge Douglas Driggers to accept the plea deal. He told the judge that he thought he was doing the right thing.

"I thought I was practicing medicine and doing my part in following people's complaints," Beale said. "And then they turned all this around on me."

In the criminal complaint, the woman whom Beale allegedly assaulted said he would verbally abuse them or say sexually explicit things to them. One of the alleged victims said that Beale would rub his penis against her when he gave her shots of medicine.

In court, Beale said that it was very hard for him to give up the opportunity to defend himself in court by accepting the plea deal.

"Alright, I will reject the plea agreement and go to trial," Driggers said.

After Beale's attorney asked the judge to reconsider, Driggers accepted the plea agreement.

Source: Justin Garcia, “Las Cruces psychiatrist accused of sexually assaulting patients pleads no contest,” Las Cruces Sun-News, Aug. 25, 2021, URL: https://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/crime/2021/08/25/psychiatrist-accused-sexually-assaulting-patients-pleads-no-contest/5592535001/