ROCKLAND (NY)
Rockland/Westchester Journal News
June 13, 2019
By Nancy Cutler
Retired acting New York State Supreme Court Judge Charles Apotheker said he struggled with his decision to identify himself as a victim of accused serial sexual predator Dr. Reginald Archibald, who is believed to have abused thousands of children during his tenure as an esteemed pediatric endocrinologist at Rockefeller University Hospital.
The 72-year-old Apotheker, though, knew he could help other victims. He knew his own “outing” would make it more difficult to ignore accusations about decades of molestations by the now-deceased doctor.
“I was angry. I was angry there were naked pictures of me and hundreds of others that no one can find. I was angry for parents, like mine,” said Apotheker, reflecting on his father, who died 30 years ago, and mother, who he lost five years ago, and their trust in this doctor who was so highly recommended. “They would feel so guilty.”
Retired acting New York State Supreme Court Judge Charles Apotheker in his Stony Point office June 12, 2019. He was a victim of Rockefeller University Hospital Dr. Archibald, who has been accused of molesting young boys.Buy Photo
Retired acting New York State Supreme Court Judge Charles Apotheker in his Stony Point office June 12, 2019. He was a victim of Rockefeller University Hospital Dr. Archibald, who has been accused of molesting young boys. (Photo: Peter Carr/The Journal News)
So, Apotheker — a former Haverstraw Town Court and Rockland County Court judge who served in drug court and then was supervising judge for town and village justice courts in the 9th Judicial District — came forward. He wrote a compelling op/ed in the New York Law Journal that was published this month.
Apotheker remembers going on the bus with his mom, traveling from the Bronx to Rockefeller in Manhattan. He was 13 and it was around 1960. He remembers going into the hospital, into Archibald’s office, posing for pictures, naked, for the doctor, who then measured his penis. Then, Apotheker said, everything goes blank. He cannot recall going home. He cannot recall another appointment with the doctor two years later. He only knows about the appointment because he petitioned to get his hospital records after he and other Archibald patients were contacted in early October 2018.
Archibald, who lived for years in Westchester County, treated approximately 9,000 children over his 40 years at Rockefeller. Like Apotheker, those children were often treated for stunted growth an
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.