Former Massachusetts pediatrician charged with sexual abuse of 15 patients

A former longtime pediatrician is accused of sexually abusing 15 patients under his care, according to the Plymouth District Attorney’s Office.

Richard Kauff, 68, of Norwell, was charged with nine counts of rape of a child and eight counts of indecent touching of a child under 14 years of age.

He has worked as a pediatrician since 1983 and was most recently at South Shore Medical Center in Norwell. Kauff treated patients at both the Norwell and Kingston offices until he retired two years ago.

Then on October 4, 2023, a person posted in a local Facebook group that they believed they had been sexually assaulted during an annual physical. People urged the victim to report the incident to Norwell Police.

A day later, another victim reported a similar incident to Norwell police. Both victims said the alleged perpetrator was Kauff.

After police filed charges against Kauff, more than three dozen people reported similar experiences with the former pediatrician.

After months of investigation, the grand jury brought 17 indictments against 15 different victims over a period of 23 years.

Kauff, who is free on $50,000 bail, was ordered to stay away and not to have any contact with the victims or the South Shore Medical Center offices in Norwell and Kingston.

Prosecutors also ordered him to have no unsupervised contact with children under 16, surrender his passport, remain in Massachusetts and give up his medical license.