A Palo Alto resident who practices medicine in San Jose has been charged with sexual assault in what investigators said are a series of incidents that included alleged lewd acts on girls and an assault on a woman, Palo Alto police said Thursday.
Naeem Ulislam Hashmi, 61, of Palo Alto, faces five charges of sexual assault following a police investigation launched in August 2021. Courtesy Getty Images.
Naeem Ulislam Hashmi, 61, practices at San Jose’s Crescent Medical Center. He was initially arrested in December at his Palo Alto home without incident after an investigation uncovered alleged lewd acts on children that occurred 15 years ago, police said.
A follow-up investigation led police to a more recent case involving a woman who reported she was sexually assaulted by Hashmi. A new sexual assault charge was later filed against him by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. Police suspect there might be additional victims who may not have previously come forward, they said.
Detectives opened the initial investigation in August after they received allegations of child sexual abuse case that occurred in 2007. A woman in her 20s reported Hashmi sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions when she was 12 and 13 years old. Hashmi allegedly assaulted another girl who was friends with her around the same time, police said.
Neither child was a patient of Hashmi. He knew them through community and family connections. One of the incidents was for an assault he allegedly committed on one of the two girls while she volunteered at his medical office, police said.
