Doctor who said he wanted to help girl, 8, ‘explore sexuality in a safe place,’ receives fate after conviction

An Iowa doctor will essentially spend the rest of his life behind bars after he sexually assaulted an 8-year-old girl at his home near Des Moines last year.

The judge Friday sentenced Dr. Lynn Lindaman, 73, to 50 years in prison. He must serve 42-and-a-half years, according to the Polk County Attorney’s Office. The sentence was enhanced because of a previous lascivious acts with a child conviction in 1976 in Johnson County.

A jury needed just an hour to convict Lindaman of second-degree sexual assault back in February. He abused the girl at his home in Ankeny on June 27, 2023, prosecutors said. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation arrested him the next day.

Lindaman’s ex-wife testified that he told her that he was trying to help the girl “explore her sexuality in a safe place.” Lindaman declined to speak after the sentencing, pleading the Fifth Amendment until all “legal actions are completed,” he said.

His attorney Lucas Taylor told the Des Moines Register after the verdict he planned to appeal.

“We’re obviously disappointed in the jury’s verdict,” Taylor told the newspaper. “However, we believe the court erred in some of its rulings and look forward to pursuing an appeal.”

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Lindaman in 1976 was convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl at a gymnastics camp while he was a camp counselor, according to a federal lawsuit filed last year. Despite the conviction, he went on to become a orthopedic surgeon in the Des Moines area for decades. The victim in that case, Sherri Moler, filed the lawsuit under the 2022 law that in some cases eliminates the statue of limitations for child sex abuse victims.

Moler alleges in the lawsuit that on July 10, 1975, that while treating an injury to her back, Lindaman sexually molested her. The incident caused mental health and emotional problems into her adult life, the lawsuit states. The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in 2025, the Register reports.

Lindaman closed his practice last year after his arrest and he and the state medical board agreed that he would stop practicing medicine, according to the Register.

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