Sex offender keeps chiropractic license after new criminal charge is dismissed

An Iowa chiropractor with a history of sex offenses will keep his license after being accused of hugging and kissing a young patient.

Chiropractor Bruce Lindberg of Ottumwa was charged with simple assault on April 18. Police alleged that after treating a 10-year-old boy at his clinic, Lindberg hugged the child and kissed him on the top of his head. A few weeks after his arrest, Lindberg agreed to stop seeing patients until the criminal case was resolved. At the time, his chiropractic license was suspended.

In July, a judge dismissed the criminal charge, noting that the criminal complaint filed by prosecutors didn’t meet the legal definition of assault.

“The complaint does not allege that the defendant intended to cause pain or injury, or intended to cause insulting or offensive physical contact,” Magistrate Sarah Wenke ruled. “Basically, the complaint does not state any intent on the part of the defendant at all. The acts which are the basis of the complaint, i.e. hugging and kissing the top of the head of the victim, are not acts which would inherently show a criminal intent.”

Citing the dismissal of the criminal case, the Iowa Board of Chiropractic recently reached a settlement with Lindberg and agreed to reinstate his license. The agreement bars Lindberg from providing care to anyone under the age of 18 and to any dependent adult. An adult employee of the chiropractic clinic will have to be present during all examinations and treatment provided by Lindberg, at least until further notice by the board.

Still unresolved is a civil lawsuit filed by the parents the 10-year-old boy. The parents allege that on Feb. 16, their son went to the clinic with a family friend who was a patient of Lindberg’s. The child was not scheduled to be seen by Lindberg, the lawsuit claims. Despite this, Lindberg allegedly took the child into an examination room, then massaged the boy’s back with lotion, then hugged and kissed the child and told him he was “beautiful,” “adorable,” and “the prettiest boy in the world.”

The lawsuit accuses Lindberg of assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and malpractice. Lindberg has denied the allegations, and a trial is scheduled for March 2024.

In 1990, Lindberg was sentenced to six years of probation after being convicted on two counts of indecent contact with children and two counts of indecent exposure. He was initially charged with seven counts of lascivious acts with a minor. In court, he admitted that he touched a child who was then under the age of 14, in the groin area for his own sexual satisfaction. Court records indicate the victims in the 1989 case were minors, some of whom were high school athletes.

After his conviction, Lindberg was excluded from the Medicare program. He later appealed that decision to an administrative law judge who ruled against him. In his decision, the judge wrote that Lindberg “did not confine his sexual misconduct with these children only to situations where the illicit touching occurred under the guise of legitimate chiropractic treatments. He often engaged in sexual molestation of children in the sauna at his home, while engaged in water sports, and in his car while driving the children to their homes.”’

Months after he was convicted in the 1989 criminal case, the Iowa Board of Chiropractic initiated disciplinary proceedings against Lindberg. Despite Lindberg’s admission to the court, the board accused Lindberg only of making lewd or suggestive “remarks or advances” to seven minors who were his patients.

Lindberg agreed to surrender his license pending the completion of counseling and periodic evaluations. At some point, the board reinstated Lindberg’s license, which remained active until the suspension in April shortly after his arrest.

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