Criminal health care workers: Warren Sipser, John Gray, Phillip Lawson

We’ve compiled a list of some of the most shocking crooked health care workers exposed in Melbourne in the past 12 months.

We’ve made a list of the horror health care workers exposed in the past 12 months.

They’re the honoured members of our community who work to benefit our health and are in turn given a huge amount of public trust.

There’s no doubt their profession makes it even more shocking when health care professionals are found to instead be a source of harm.

From the myotherapist who raped his client on the massage table to the nurse who smuggled more than a kilo of cocaine into Australia in his stomach, here are some of the corrupt health care workers exposed in the past 12 months.

Myotherapist John Gray raped one of his clients during an appointment.

MYOTHERAPIST TURNED RAPIST

A popular myotherapist turned into a criminal when he raped one of his regular 19-year-old clients during a massage appointment.

John Gray was convicted of the rape at a trial late last year following the incident at his North Melbourne practice on October 3, 2017.

Gray told the teenager her appointment could go for an extra 10 minutes before she suggested she take her underwear off so he could massage her hip better.

She said no and he asked again.

She didn’t reply and her underwear was removed.

Gray then touched her genitalia and asked if it was OK, again she didn’t reply.

He then asked again and questioned if it was what she wanted and she said ‘no’ and sat up.

The married father of two texted her later that night apologising and saying he would make it up to her, the County Court heard at his sentencing.

Judge Amanda Fox said she accepted Gray had a belief the woman was consenting to his actions, but that the belief was unreasonable in the circumstances.

“She was in a vulnerable position and trusted you, as her therapist, to behave professionally,” Judge Fox said.

“You breached her trust and took advantage of the power imbalance to commit the offence.”

The 43-year-old was jailed for a minimum of two years in January.

Warren Sipser with his former wife Andi Lew.

COCAINE CONCEALING CHIROPRACTOR

A prominent Melbourne chiropractor went from servicing A-list clientele to being an incarcerated criminal after he tried to import 120kg of liquid cocaine from South Africa.

Warren Sipser pleaded guilty in the County Court last month after he was busted trying to import more than $90 million of cocaine in June 2018.

The Elwood chiropractor tried to get the drug concealed in a consignment of what purported to be 600 bottles he bought wine on eBay.

Australian Border Force intercepted the bottles, and testing discovered 343 contained cocaine.

The former husband of socialite and wellness advocate Andi Lew will be sentenced later this year.

CORRUPT CUPCAKE PODIATRIST

A Traralgon podiatrist exploited a female patient for sex during her appointments after offering her a job, then asked her to bake him treats.

Sleazebag podiatrist Phillip Lawson had sex with a client.

Phillip Lawson’s professional misconduct at his practice, Traralgon Podiatry Clinic, in late 2016, was proved by a Victoria Civil and Administrative Tribunal panel in February 2020.

Lawson had sex with the woman when she attended therapeutic sessions with him after he had offered her a job at the practice.

But Lawson withdrew the offer after coming clean to his wife about the patient.

The tribunal heard Lawson dangled the lure of work over the woman’s head and the pair exchanged almost 3000 messages of a “personal nature” which contained “flirtation and sexually explicit” messages and an explicit photo.

The doctor also “encouraged” his victim to bake him cupcakes.

SLY PSYCH NURSE

An Austin Health employee had sex with two mentally unwell patients, including the first ever patient she treated as a graduate nurse.

Jessica Middleton had her health practitioners registration cancelled by a VCAT panel in July 2020 for committing professional misconduct in 2016.

Middleton had just started working at Austin Health psychological trauma recovery service inpatient ward in early 2016 when she had sex with a male patient.

She also accessed the man’s records on multiple occasions and went on to message him on Facebook, with her messages including “inappropriate comments” about other hospital staff.

Middleton had an on-and-off relationship with him until 2019.

She also had sex with another patient, who she played pool and smoked with while he was an inpatient.

DECEITFUL DENTAL NURSE

A dental nurse stole more than $120,000 from her boss then gambled the lot away.

Kailyn Brown was jailed for six months’ in September after she stole $120,043 from July 2015 to August 2019 while working as Box Hill Dental’s practice manager.

Brown handled almost $200,000 in customer payments during this time, and funnelled $58,647 into her own bank account while a further $61,396 could not be “accounted for”.

Her thieving ways were only uncovered when an accountant was asked to check the books ahead of a possible sale of the business.

At her sentencing, the County Court heard the vodka-binge drinker was a Crown Casino platinum card member who spun away the cash on pokies.

Bond Oji left the US with more than a kilo of cocaine hidden inside his body.

DRUG DOWNING NURSE

A nurse smuggled more than a kilo of cocaine into Australia by swallowing more than 100 pellets of the drug before his flight from New Delhi.

Bond Oji was sentenced in the County Court to a minimum four years and six months jail in August after his crime was discovered on October 26, 2019.

The US citizen was forced to undergo a bodycheck at Melbourne Airport after he told Australian Border Force officers he was in Melbourne to go to the Australian Fitness and Health Expo, but he didn’t have a ticket.

After it was found there were ‘foreign objects’ in his body, Oji swallowed more than 100 pellets while in New Delhi about 20 hours before.

Cocaine pellets Bond Oji concealed in his stomach.

Over 14 hours he then expelled 109 cocaine pellets from his body.

The total amount of cocaine weighed more than a kilo and was estimated to have a street value of $514,920.

INCESTUAL RAPIST DOCTOR

A depraved doctor repeatedly raped his daughter then forced her to get an abortion after he got her pregnant.

The Melbourne man in his 70s, who cannot be named in order to protect his now grown-up daughter’s identity, was sentenced to 16 and a half years’ prison in July 2020.

The longstanding GP regularly touched and raped his daughter between the ages of eight and 18 from the mid 1970s to ‘80s.

He would force his daughter to take the morning-after pill on the occasions he didn’t use a condom, the court heard at his sentencing.

The daughter was in Year 11 when she fell pregnant to him and he chastised her for falling pregnant the made her have an abortion.

The doctor’s crimes only came to light more than three decades later in 2018 when his daughter began to fear for the safety of her own eight-year-old daughter and went to the police.