SCOTT TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- More testimony was heard Friday against a Mount Lebanon dentist accused of sexually assaulting female patients after using anesthesia to numb them.

It was the continuation of a preliminary hearing that began on March 28 for Dr. Robert Boyda Jr. The hearing will resume again sometime next week before District Judge Gary Zyra.

Four women testified on Friday against Boyda, a Harvard-educated oral surgeon with offices in Scott and Robinson townships.

Sixteen witnesses took the stand during the earlier portion of the hearing.
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Allegheny County police said the female patients, ranging in age from 13 to 58, claim the alleged assaults took place while they were drifting in and out of consciousness during oral surgery.

At the hearing in March, one alleged victim said, "My body was paralyzed. My mind was not. It wasn’t a dream."

"I couldn’t do anything," another woman said. "I was just limp."

Defense attorney Bill Difenderfer said the women were likely hallucinating because of the anesthesia and only dreamed that the assaults were taking place.

"There have been no surprises here," he said in March. "I think it went extremely well for the defense and we're anxious to get this thing over with. I will tell you, I'm not going to go through my entire defense, but I can tell you that everything is very consistent with the forensics of the anesthesia and we think we'll be just fine."

Boyda, whose dental license has temporarily been suspended, is charged with sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault and corruption of minors.

According to the criminal complaint, one alleged victim recalled Boyda exposing himself three to four times.

Another woman claimed Boyda climbed up on the dentist's chair to assault her.

Another patient said she woke and "the dentist had his hand under the blanket" that was covering her, according to the criminal complaint.

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