Article - April 23, 2008 - San Jose Mercury News

Chilling details emerge in Antioch chiropractor date rape drug case

By Matthias Gafni

It was supposed to be a fun day trying on wedding gowns. One 27-year-old woman was getting married, and her cousin, the same age, joined her for the fittings.

The pair, from Antioch and Pittsburg, finished the Feb. 21 outing at an Antioch restaurant, police said. One of the cousins recognized her chiropractor, Jason Phillip Goettsch, at the bar. Later that night, Goettsch, 37, allegedly drugged the women, brought them back to his chiropractic office, videotaped his assault on one of the women, and returned to a nearby bar to show the cell phone video to his bar buddies.

An arrest warrant was issued Monday charging Goettsch with two counts of drugging a victim with the intent to rape and one count each of oral copulation of a drugged victim, digital penetration of a drugged victim, and possession of GHB, also known as the date rape drug. The suspect has fled, Antioch police Sgt. Diane Aguinaga said, and may be in the San Francisco area.

"He needs to get caught," she said, calling this case a "tragedy with two innocent victims."

Goettsch's Advanced Chiropractic office, 3720 Sunset Lane, Suite D, was closed Wednesday. The office voicemail box was full.

Goettsch, according to police, had been on a downward spiral since he shot and killed a prowler in his Antioch backyard on March 18, 2006. The shooting was ruled a justifiable homicide, but Goettsch, a nephew of recently retired Antioch Unified School District Superintendent Dennis Goettsch, soon found himself in trouble with the law.

In September 2007, Goettsch was convicted of a misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol with two prior DUI convictions and sentenced to 120 days in jail and five years probation, according to a California Board of Chiropractic Examiners complaint issued Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the state chiropractic oversight agency is working with the California Attorney General's Office to revoke Goettsch's license to practice. On Wednesday, they levied a complaint against Goettsch, citing six causes for discipline, including his DUI convictions and the February assault charges. They also filed an interim suspension order to "get him out of this profession as quickly as we can," said Brian Stiger, executive officer of the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners.

"We are aware of the allegations against him," he said. "We have a pending investigation, and we're moving forward as quickly as possible to revoke his license."

Prior to Wednesday, Goettsch had an active license to practice with no citations or complaints.

Trinka Porrata, president of Project GHB, a group that advocates against the drug, says she's seen "a disproportionate number of chiropractors as users and abusers."

She said members of the profession, along with alternative medicine facilities, touted the drug in the 1980s as a dietary supplement. Recently, two chiropractors actually contacted Porrata's anti-GHB Web site hoping to buy some of the drug.

Stiger, with the state agency, said chiropractors would have no special access to the drug, and he hasn't seen a single GHB complaint come to his office.

"It's a drugless profession," he said.

GHB, or the chemical gamma hydroxy butyrate, is only slightly different from nail polish remover, Porrata said. The clear liquid is readily available on the Internet, especially from the United Kingdom and China, she said. Often used to incapacitate women, the drug leaves rape victims with partial or complete amnesia.

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