Sentencing Delayed For Berkeley Pediatrician

OAKLAND, CA — A judge on Wednesday granted an Alameda County prosecutor's request to postpone the sentencing of an 84-year-old Berkeley pediatrician for his felony sex conviction so the victim in the case has time to deal with the trauma he's experiencing.

At the sentencing hearing for Dr. Bayard Allmond, who pleaded no contest on Nov. 8 to a felony count of sending harmful matter to a minor with sexual intent, prosecutor Matt Golde said he had hoped that the victim would come to court but said he is suffering "a tremendous amount of trauma" and isn't ready to come to court at this time.

Golde said the victim, who is now 20 and in college but was 16 and 17 at the time of the offenses, agreed to a plea deal that only called for Bayard, who practiced at his home in Berkeley and in Contra Costa County, to surrender his medical license and not do any jail time because he didn't want his parents and the public to find out about what happened.

But Golde said the victim's parents recently found out about the case because the victim and his father share the same name and the father inadvertently opened a letter about the case that probation officials sent to the family's home.

"Once this came out, a different family discussion took place and the victim is now free from shame and wants jail time for Dr. Allmond," Golde said.

Allmond's lawyer Paul Wolf objected to delaying the sentencing and told Alameda County Superior Court Judge James Cramer that he should stick to the plea agreement that was negotiated in front of another judge, Yolanda Northridge, on Nov. 8.

When Cramer said he would postpone the sentencing until Feb. 15 to see if the victim would come to court at that time, Wolf said, "I object on all grounds."

In exchange for Allmond's plea to the harmful sexual matter count, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office agreed to dismiss three other counts involving the victim: misdemeanor child molestation, felony sexual battery for false professional purposes and misdemeanor sexual exploitation of a patient.

The plea agreement calls for Allmond to be given credit for the one day he spent in jail when he was arrested on Dec. 14, 2017, at the Berkeley home where he also has his medical practice, be placed on three years' probation, surrender his medical license and abandon his practice.

Three of the charges against Allmond stem from his actions from January through April of 2016 and one stems from his actions on Dec. 21, 2016.

The victim's father told Judge Cramer that his son suffered from panic attacks and East Bay Pediatrics referred him to Dr. Allmond.

The victim's mother said, "My son never wanted to go to therapy and I drove him to most of his sessions."

She said, "I can't believe how naive I was not to see the warning signs" that her son was being abused.

Fighting back tears, the mother said, "I will never forgive myself for being this man's (Allmond's) accomplice" for driving my son to his therapy sessions.

The father said, "Our son told us that now that this information is out he wants him (Allmond) punished with jail time" but his son didn't feel up to coming to court on Wednesday because he's had "numerous panic" attacks in recent days.

The father said, "We prayed that he would come here (on Wednesday) and we hope we will get him here in the future."

The father said, "We will never get over this and our son will never get over this."

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— Bay City News; Image via Shutterstock