Article - April 24, 2008 - Gillette News Record

Victims take stand in sex assault trial

By Peter Gartrell

The opening day of a third-degree sexual assault trial against local chiropractor Jack Faubion saw four victims take the stand and describe strikingly similar instances of him allegedly fondling their breasts.

In what prosecutor Bill Edelman described as “a breach of trust in perhaps one of the most trusted professions in the United States,” each of the four women said that they went into Faubion’s 405 W. Boxelder Road office seeking treatment for back or neck pain and headaches.

They all left wondering why their chiropractor had “cupped” and “massaged” their breasts, with two witnesses saying he also moved his hand into their crotch area.

One of the two, a 37-year-old, said he moved his hand underneath her underwear reaching her pubic hair line.

“It creeped me out,” she said. “I kept thinking in my head, ‘what does my lower area have to do with my neck?’”

Added a 25-year-old witness: “His whole hand was on my breast and when he looked (at them under her shirt) was when I really felt he wasn’t doing what he was supposed to do.”

But as Edelman tried to build a case based on a pattern of Faubion bringing women into his office, then asking them to undress so he could treat “ribs that were out,” the defense tried to establish that none of the women told the chiropractor to stop.

“You asked what he was doing but did you ever say you thought what he was doing was inappropriate?” defense attorney Nick Carter asked the 25-year-old.

“No,” the witness said.

In the early afternoon, a 21-year-old, out-of-state college student who testified by phone came under heavy questioning from Carter. The veteran defense attorney attacked what appeared to be an unsure timeline in the young woman’s mind.

At one point he reminded the witness she was under oath.

“Earlier you were saying it was the summer of 2005 and now you’re saying it’s 2004,” Carter said.

The woman eventually said she was unsure of the exact dates the alleged assaults occurred, having visited Faubion close to 20 times.

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