Prof Joe Cummins suggests parallels with rock 'n' roll...
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Two Charges Against Scientist Dismissed
Still Facing Other Sex Abuse Charges
May 5, 2005
PASADENA, Calif.

A judge dismissed two of six charges against a renowned gene therapy scientist accused of molesting a girl he instructed in martial arts.

Two sex abuse counts against William French Anderson, 68, fell outside the six-year statute of limitations, Superior Court Judge Teri Schwartz ruled Wednesday.

Anderson still faces one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child under age 14 and three counts of committing a lewd act upon a child. The acts allegedly occurred from 1999 to 2001, when the girl was 11 to 13.

A message left with Barry Tarlow, an attorney who represents Anderson, was not immediately returned. Anderson was released from jail in February on an undisclosed bond.

Considered the "father of gene therapy," Anderson has been placed on administrative leave as director of the Gene Therapies Laboratories at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine. He was Time magazine's runner-up for man of the year in 1995.

Anderson, a fifth-degree black belt in tae kwon do, allegedly abused the girl while she took lessons from him at his home, prosecutors said.

In a separate case, Anderson faces charges in Maryland involving a man who claimed the doctor abused him between 1983 and 1985, starting when he was 12 years old.