He had a double public role, that of mayor of Rivolta d'Adda, a town in the Cremona area, and that of head of Gastroenterology at a medical center in Pozzuolo Martesana, in the Milan area, the doctor arrested by the Carabinieri on charges of aggravated sexual violence for abusing 4 patients while performing ultrasound scans on them . A number that could also grow, given that investigators do not exclude the arrival of other complaints. Now Giovanni Sgroi, 70 years old, retired but still practicing his profession, elected mayor of Rivolta d'Adda in 2021 with a list close to the center-right, is under house arrest at home.

According to the investigations of the deputy Letizia Mannella and the prosecutor Alessia Menegazzo, the violence would have occurred during visits to the health facility in Pozzuolo Martesana, where the doctor was well known. The investigations began in 2024 following the complaint of a patient and, in a short time thanks to wiretaps and scientific findings, as well as a careful analysis of chats on smartphones and PCs where several messages with patients were found, they identified the gastroenterologist, bringing to light three other cases of incomplete violence. But the investigators do not exclude that there may be more. The man was reached yesterday at his workplace where he was notified of the house arrest measure, requested by the prosecutor Alessia Menegazzo and issued by the investigating judge Sara Cipolla. In the order he is accused of four episodes of abuse against as many female patients aged 24, 35, 36 and 44.

The abuses allegedly occurred during specialist visits, first through irrelevant comments and questions and then moving on to violence disguised as medical maneuvers. Furthermore, according to the testimonies collected, when escorting the patients out of the room, Sgroi allegedly turned to his secretary on several occasions, telling her to "give a discount" to the abused patients (and still stunned or shocked) with inappropriate behavior . In all the episodes, the aggravating circumstance of abuse of power and violation of public service duties is also contested.

The first report of the current investigation was made to the Carabinieri of Melzo (Milan) at the beginning of 2024, but already in 2010 the Bergamo Public Prosecutor's Office had subjected him to preliminary investigations for similar hypotheses of crime, later archived. Sgroi, originally from Messina, was director of Surgery 2° and of the Department of Surgical Sciences of the Asst Bergamo Ovest, in Treviglio (Bergamo), where he worked from 2011 to 2019, and between 2005 and 2010 he was the head physician of the hospital of Alzano Lombardo (Bergamo). Previously he served at the San Paolo in Milan, and also held the role of president of the Lombard surgeons. He currently had the role of "director of the multi-specialist area of the CMP of Pozzuolo Martesana". Elected mayor of Rivolta d'Adda four years ago with the civic list "Rivolta Dinamica", a center-right area, he had wrested the municipality in the province of Cremona from the center-left after ten years. He had then run for the European elections in 2024, with the list "Difendi la libertà" of Cateno De Luca but it had gone badly. The professional has declared himself totally extraneous to the facts. Now he awaits the preliminary hearing before the investigating judge, scheduled for Tuesday 27 May. In the meantime, the investigators have invited any other people who may have been subject to his attentions to come forward.

(Online Union)

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