Former Douglas County physician’s assistant sentenced for sexually assaulting patients

Eldon Leinweber assaulted female patients, provided narcotic medications in exchange for sexual favors

WENATCHEE - Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced today that a Douglas County Superior Court judge sentenced a former physician's assistant from Waterville to the maximum sentence of 364 days confinement, with one year of community custody. Eldon Leinweber will serve six months in jail, followed by six months of electronic home monitoring.

The sentence was a result of a prosecution by the Attorney General's Office against Leinweber for sexually assaulting multiple female patients.

According to charging documents, Leinweber engaged in sexual contact with some female patients who saw him at a local medical clinic in exchange for prescribing them narcotic pills and medications. Prior to the assaults, all of the women told Leinweber they needed narcotic pills and all of them also admitted to being addicted to narcotics. Women told investigators that Leinweber touched them inappropriately and he invited some of them to locations away from the clinic, where he would sexually assault them.

One woman told investigators, "If that's the only way he's going to give me the prescriptions, then I guess I gotta do it."

Additional detail is available in charging documents.

Ferguson filed three criminal charges against Leinweber in February: second-degree rape, third-degree rape and indecent liberties. Prior to a trial, Leinweber pleaded guilty on Sept. 23 to two gross misdemeanor counts of fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation and solicitation to commit unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. All of the survivors in communication with the Attorney General's Office supported the plea.

The Attorney General's Office Medicaid Fraud Control Division's criminal prosecutors argued that Leinweber serve a jail sentence of one year and serve one additional year in community custody. Leinweber surrendered his medical license.

"We expect medical professionals to take care of us, not take advantage of us," Ferguson said. "I'm proud of my team for working to deliver accountability for these offenses and justice for the survivors."

Case background

Leinweber was a licensed physician's assistant who provided medical services at a clinic in Soap Lake. In 2019, prosecutors learned of allegations Leinweber provided narcotic pills and medications to patients in exchange for allowing him to commit sexual assaults on them.

The Attorney General's Office prosecuted the case with the concurrence of the Douglas County Prosecutor. Under state law and the Washington State Constitution, the Medicaid Fraud Control Division of the Attorney General's Office has concurrent authority and power with the prosecuting attorneys to investigate and prosecute crimes with the concurrence of the county prosecuting attorney.

Assistant Attorneys General Nick Carter and Rachel Sterett handled the case for the Attorney General's Office.

The Washington Medicaid Fraud Control Division receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $10,873,316 for federal fiscal year 2025. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $3,624,436, is funded by Washington state Medicaid fraud recoveries.

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