The municipal superintendent in a Trønder municipality was this week charged with abusing his position to obtain sexual intercourse. Several reports have been received from female patients against him. news has been in contact with the doctor. He does not want to comment, and refers to his lawyer. The doctor has two lawyers. Karl Bjørnar Olsen is assisting him in the matter of the suspension. The Norwegian Health Authority temporarily suspended medical authorization in July. Olsen has previously told news that they will appeal the decision on the suspension. Erlend Hjulstad Nilsen is the man’s defender in the criminal case. He will not comment beyond the fact that he is working to get an overview. The Norwegian Health Authority reported the man on 29 June. But the police did not receive the report and the documents in the case complex until 50 days later – Wednesday 17 August. Maste for several days news is aware that 12 complaints against the doctor have been received by the Statsforvalteren since November last year. The police have received more than ten inquiries. It is unknown to news how many victims there will be in total in the complex. The municipal director contacted the police as more cases were reported. This is because they wanted to go out with offers to the citizens who are aggrieved in the case. – We insisted for several days that they had to get started, as the matter gradually spread in the local community. I am worried that time has ruined the case, says the municipal director to news. The Norwegian Health Authority uses letter mail For privacy reasons, the Norwegian Health Authority must use secure delivery. Anne Myhr tells news. She is a department director in the Norwegian Health Authority. – We do not have a system in place that allows us to send personally sensitive information securely electronically and must therefore use ordinary letter mail. Why it took so long for the police to register the report, perhaps the police are the closest to answer, says Myhr. The police: – We are already a little behind – We have been told that the report and the documents have been sent to the police in July by post. Unfortunately, this takes a little longer than if it were sent digitally, says Ellen Mari Burheim, head of investigations in Trøndelag police district. Trønder-Avisa has covered the case. She does not know whether the case was left somewhere else with the police, with Posten or at the post office. But she confirms that the case was not registered in the police’s systems until 9 August, after the police had heard that a report was on its way. – It has been holiday time, and it is impossible to know where it was left. But we warned the Norwegian Health Authority when we became aware that the case had been reported to us. We didn’t find any case in the system and therefore got in touch, says Burheim. The documents they depended on in the investigation, however, did not arrive until 17 August. – Are you worried that this may have damaged the collection of evidence? – At this point, the municipal superintendent was well aware of the complaints, so I don’t think the investigation came as a surprise. There will only be speculation as to whether evidence may have been destroyed, but we are already a bit behind, says Burheim. The municipality has held back The municipality became aware in June that a notice had been received about behavior that crossed borders towards the doctor. In July, a new warning came. The Norwegian Health Authority temporarily suspended the doctor’s authorization on 18 July. The municipality immediately chose to suspend him from his position. He then lost access to the doctor’s office and the municipal hall. The municipality quickly wanted to set itself up to assist those affected in the municipality, but awaited the police’s investigation. – We had to hold back so as not to spoil the case, says the municipal director, who is surprised that it could take so long before a report was given for the police to start an investigation. – This led to us not being able to do what we thought was right towards our citizens. The police searched the home of the municipal superintendent on Wednesday this week. Dozens of inquiries on the municipality’s contact phone The man has been a doctor in the municipality since the 90s. In addition to being a municipal doctor, he has been a general practitioner. He has had just under a thousand patients on his list. news has information about one of the women who has told her story to the police. According to what news knows, the woman believes there may be a dozen assaults from 2014 until today. Some of the assaults are said to have taken place after working hours at the office of the municipal superintendent. The municipal director fears that what has come to light so far is only the tip of the iceberg. The municipality has set up a contact number for residents who may be affected. Many people have made contact and told their stories, confirms the municipal director: – We have received dozens of inquiries, and they are getting professional help in how to handle this further.
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It took almost two months from report to investigation – news Trøndelag
