A Queens judge sentenced a former doctor from Manhasset who pleaded guilty last year to sexually abusing patients at an urgent care facility to 6 years’ probation on Wednesday.
Amir Sitafalwalla, 73, did not express remorse for his actions — or speak at all — before he was sentenced by Judge Gia Morris, who also ordered Sitafalwalla to register as a sex offender. He pleaded guilty to five counts of forcible touching of intimate parts and one count of third-degree sexual abuse on Oct. 16, according to court records.
“You are repulsive, perverted, weak, truly the embodiment of a predator,” a 24-year-old man said in a victim impact statement in court. The man said he was sexually abused by Sitafalwalla at a ModernMD urgent care clinic in Woodhaven in August 2024.
The man said he had been traumatized by Sitafalwalla’s assault and initially tried to bury it. He reported the abuse, he said, because of the guilt and shame he would feel if he remained silent and Sitafalwalla went on to abuse a child.
“It makes me happy that Amir Sitafalwalla has to pay for his crimes,” the man said.
Hardeep Shergill, an attorney who represents that victim and another who said he was abused by Sitafalwalla, said her clients were not “thrilled” that the disgraced doctor received probation, but they were happy he could not use his medical license to sexually abuse other people.
“Obviously, they are not very happy with the 6-year probation, given what they have suffered,” Shergill said.
Sitafalwalla’s attorney, Kyle Watters, declined to discuss the sentence with reporters following Wednesday’s hearing in Queens County Criminal Court.
Representatives for Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Authorities have identified at least five men who were assaulted by Sitafalwalla but suspect there are more. A lawsuit filed in August said Sitafalwalla abused another man at the ModernMD clinic before he abused the victim who spoke in court.
Sitafalwalla also was terminated by CityMD in 2021 for sexually abusing patients in 2017 and 2020 at its Bayside clinic, the lawsuit said. Shergill said CityMD reported the allegations to the New York State Department of Health. Despite the allegations, Sitafalwalla did not surrender his medical license until April 2025, according to state Department of Health records.
The Department of Health’s Office of Professional Medical Conduct launched an investigation into the CityMD claims in May 2021, the lawsuit said. When Sitafalwalla applied for a position with ModernMD in July 2021, he lied when asked if he had ever been the target of an investigation, the suit said.
The lawsuit said ModernMD had an obligation to conduct a thorough background check before it hired Sitafalwalla in July 2021.
“After he was hired by defendants ModernMD in or around July 2021, Dr. Sitafalwalla used similar methods to target, isolate, assault, and abuse his victims at ModernMD as he did while previously employed at CityMD Bayside,” the lawsuit said. “Had ModernMD personnel conducted a simple investigation as to why Dr. Sitafalwalla was terminated from his previous position, they would have discovered his history of sexual misconduct and prevented his predation on his patients at ModernMD.”
A ModernMD representative said the company was “deeply disturbed” by Sitafalwalla’s conduct and cooperated with authorities.
“Patient safety and well-being are integral to our mission, and we are committed to ensuring patients continue to receive the quality care they have come to expect from us,” the representative said in an email.
Michael O’Keeffe covers Suffolk County police and other Long Island law enforcement agencies. He is an award-winning journalist and the co-author of two books,”The Card” and “American Icon.”