Peabody chiropractor pleads guilty to molesting patients

REVERE – A 54-year-old Peabody chiropractor pleaded guilty Thursday to molesting four female clients in separate incidents at his Revere clinic earlier this year.Jeffrey Keller admitted to four counts of indecent assault and battery for inappropriately touching the four women while they were in his care. The incidents occurred at Keller’s 199 Shirley Ave. office.Two of the women came forward to authorities after learning of earlier allegations against Keller that appeared in the media, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley.Chelsea District Court Judge James H. Wexler sentenced Keller to four consecutive two-year terms in the House of Correction, further ordering those terms suspended for a three-year probationary period.If Keller in any way violates the terms and conditions of his three-year probation, he could be ordered to serve out the entirety of the sentence behind bars, said Jake Wark, spokesman for the district attorney.Wexler also ordered that Keller register as a sex offender, wear a GPS monitoring bracelet, undergo sex-offender treatment, stay away from the four victims, not be employed in a role where he would have physical contact with women, and comply with the orders of the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Chiropractors. At time of sentencing, Keller had already agreed to a suspension of his chiropractor’s license.Had the case proceeded to trial, Assistant District Attorney Michelle N. Kalowski, a member of the district attorney’s Family Protection and Sexual Assault Unit, would have presented evidence and testimony proving that Keller used his position as a chiropractor to have inappropriate physical contact with four women in his office, Wark said.Law enforcement officials first became aware of the abuse when a 26-year-old Medford woman contacted authorities in May to report an assault. That report was similar to an earlier incident disclosed by a 37-year-old Lynn woman.Following significant media coverage of the case – and Conley’s call urging other potential victims to come forward – two more women contacted authorities with similar allegations of abuse, Wark saidIn each instance, the victims were present in Keller’s office for physical therapy. The Medford woman had been involved in an automobile collision and the Lynn woman had been suffering from back problems. Both had been under Keller’s care for several weeks.”This defendant violated the trust of patients who went to him seeking to alleviate their pain,” Conley said. “Instead, this man abused them and took advantage of his position to inflict further trauma. Were it not for the bravery of the four women who came forward, not to mention the media outlets that broadcast the initial disclosures, this defendant may have been able to continue to abuse his position and the patients in his care.”Defense lawyer Richard Clayman represented the chiropractor.