Kenneth Haygood

A suspended Tyler doctor has been indicted on multiple sexual assault charges.

Kenneth Haygood, 54, of Tyler, was arrested in February on three counts of sexual assault and one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child. But now he faces a total of six counts of sexual assault, one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child and another charge of practicing medicine without a license.

Haygood was indicted by a grand jury on the charges May 9. Records show the alleged sexual assaults happened in 2007, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021. Additionally, he is accused of practicing medicine without his license on July 3, 2023.

Haygood’s Texas medical license was temporarily suspended without notice in October, according to the Texas Medical Board. The board said the panel determined Haygood’s “continuation in the practice of medicine poses a continuing threat to public welfare.”

Prior to the suspension of his medical license, Haygood operated his own private practice at 1304 Doctor’s Dr. in Tyler.

The allegations against Haygood came to light after Haygood’s suspension when a woman told the Texas Medical Board she was allegedly assaulted by Haygood when she was under 10 years old.

The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Office of the Attorney General of Texas began investigating Haygood and verifying the claims against him in November, according to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by the Tyler Morning Telegraph.

In December 2007, Haygood was treating the child victim in his Tyler office when the victim said he sexually assaulted her. While her parent was out of the room, the victim said Haygood told them he was checking her thyroid and sexually assaulted her.

The victim didn’t report it at the time, but after learning through news reports that Haygood lost his license, the victim felt it was important to notify the Texas Medical Board.

Another woman said they were assaulted in 2018 twice within two weeks at Haygood’s office. Haygood allegedly assaulted the victim during an hour-long massage to treat her pain. The victim told police she remember sbeing “frozen with fear” as Haygood touched her private areas without consent. The victim left in a “state of shock” and the next day, the victim reported the assault to the Tyler Police Department. The victim provided the same details to police during a November interview that were detailed in that 2018 police report, according to the affidavit.

During the years the victim was under Haygood’s care, he performed several pelvic exams. She told police the exams “seemed more sexual instead of medically necessary.”

A third victim told police of similar encounters with Haygood that were much different from those she had experienced with her regular gynecologist. This victim also experienced Haygood touching her inappropriately without consent during a massage in 2018, according to the affidavit.

A fourth victim described feeling “groomed” by Haygood for sexual assault over three months. Haygood told the victim the assaults were legitimate medical procedures. He also allegedly tracked her location through her cellphone and installed a camera inside her home, the affidavit states.

A Texas Medical Board panel found that Haygood was treating female patients anyway, even though he’d been restricted from seeing and treating females in a June final order.

“The board found Haygood failed to meet the standard of care and did not obtain consent prior to performing a physical exam of a female patient, inappropriately discussed the encounter with the patient’s mother and her husband via text message disclosing her confidential medical information and Protected Health Information, and in an attempt to intimidate them as witnesses,” a June report by the TMB stated. “The order resolves a formal complaint filed at the State Office of Administrative Hearings.”

Haygood remains jailed on bonds totaling $5.2 million. He was set to appear in court on Sept. 13, according to Smith County court records. A status hearing has been set for 9 a.m. Nov. 12 in Judge Austin Reeve Jackson’s court.