Sexual assault victims of Franklin County therapist seek answers in court
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Victims of sexual abuse by a local therapist are seeking accountability for what happened to them. These women are speaking out publicly for the first time in an exclusive interview with NBC4.
In July, Dennis Quigley, a practicing therapist for more than 40 years, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for sexual battery in a Franklin County court.
The victims said they were first connected with Quigley through a company called Comprehensive Services Inc. located on Bethel Road. The victim is suing Comprehensive Services asking it to take accountability and claiming the company knew about Quigley’s history of abuse and ignored it.
The victims also claim the company allowed Quigley to keep meeting with patients after he surrendered his license.
Watch: Therapist's sexual assault victims seek answers in court
These women said they are not even sure how many more victims might be out there.
The woman who first came forward in the criminal case and now this civil lawsuit said she first met Quigley in 2013. She said she was seeking therapy for the first time.
“I was having a lot of psychological wellness issues; not sleeping, not eating, depression, anxiety,” Christina said.
One of the companies recommended through her insurance was Comprehensive Services Inc. She said they connected her to a therapist named Dennis Quigley.
Christina said that she initially didn’t feel uncomfortable around Quigley but thought something was off.
“Every single time I left that office and then it got worse later on, I felt super confused and frustrated and exhausted,” Chistina said.
She said that looking back, she was emotionally abused from the start.
“I was, for lack of a better term, groomed over about a two-year period and it was it was a slow progression and an introduction to getting me to trust him enough to go past that barrier,” Christina said.
She said Quigley began to sexually abuse her in 2015.
“Were you able to tell anybody about this as it was going on or did you harbor it all inside,” NBC 4 reporter Anna Hoffman asked.
“Oh, no, I could not tell anyone,” Christina said. “I internalized it. I internalized it so much so that it came down to me wanting to end my life pretty consistently for many years.”
Christina said it took her seven years to tell her husband and later go on to report Quigley to authorities.
Ogla is another of Quigley’s victims. She said she first started seeing Quigley in April 2018.
“I never had any experience with therapy before, so when he started talking, leaning, moving conversation towards sex, I didn't think anything of that because I trusted him," Olga said.
She said that four months later, Quigley started to get physical with her.
“I left and I felt so anxious,” Olga said. “I feel like my head just blew, blew away.”
She said all of the past trauma she went to Quigley to seek help for just escalated to the point where she contemplated taking her own life. She said it took her a year and a half to tell her husband and then report Quigley.
In September 2021, Quigley surrendered his medical license, but his victims claim he continued to provide therapy services.
“I thought I was done until I saw his picture on the website of Comprehensive Services, so I posted a review on their web page,” Olga said. “Um, actually I have it takes me saying that how come this person is no longer has a license? How come you have him on his on your page and they removed the picture within three days? But I kept my review there. They started posting five-star reviews on their website, one review a week, six reviews, six weeks.”
After these women decided to come forward with their stories, Quigley was formally indicted by a Franklin County grand jury in October 2023. The women now want the company that put them in front of Quigley to be held accountable.
“Where we're at now is you have this place where she put her trust into, her faith into and a goal is to protect patients, right, to protect patients, protect their well-being, and when one of their employees does something wrong, now we're in a situation where, rather than be responsible, protect the patient, they're holding up their hands and trying to escape liability,” said Abby Chin, an attorney with Cooper Elliott Law Firm.
Chin, Christina's attorney, said they filed the complaint on Aug. 17. The civil complaint alleges Quigley continued to treat patients, even continued to meet with Christina for at least a year after surrendering his license.
Chin said they are trying to find out more about Comprehensive Services vetting process for therapists. She said they have not been able to get all the documents they need for evidence from Comprehensive Services.
Both Christina and Olga said they blame comprehensive services for what happened to them because they believe something could have been done to stop Quigley.
NBC4 has sent three emails to the lawyers representing Comprehensive Services since conducting these interviews on Sept. 5 and has not received a response. On Tuesday morning, we were able to get ahold of one of their lawyers by phone and were told they did not want to speak with NBC 4 and hung up the phone.