Former Neurosurgery professor Tracy McIntosh was sentenced to house arrest yesterday for giving drugs to and sexually assaulting the niece of his close friend -- a crime to which he pleaded no contest in December.
The former director of the Head Injury Research Center will spend 11 and a half to 23 months under house arrest. He was fined $20,000 and ordered to pay another $20,000 for the victim's psychological treatment.
Assistant District Attorney Gina Smith, who was anticipating a three- to six-year judgment, said, "I thought that the sentence addressed protective and deterrent needs but was a little light on the retribution."
In an emotional hearing in which both the victim and her family testified, Smith presented a previously undisclosed internal memo regarding complaints surrounding McIntosh's behavior while he worked at Penn.
In addition to the house arrest and fines, Common Pleas Court Judge Rayford Means forbade McIntosh from taking on future supervisory roles. He will also be subject to a 10-year probation after the end of his house arrest.
The victim -- who was 23 years old at the time -- was on deferred admission to the School of Veterinary Medicine and was visiting McIntosh on campus on the recommendation of her uncle.
On the night of Sept. 6, 2002, McIntosh and the victim went to three local bars, after which they smoked marijuana which he provided and forced her to have sex with him in his campus office. The victim said she felt sick and was unable to resist. Prosecutors contended that McIntosh had drugged her with an animal sedative, but those charges were never proven.
A memo presented by the prosecution said there was a history of complaints regarding severe and inappropriate behavior on the part of McIntosh while he was at Penn.
Several of his younger female co-workers had complained to the University regarding his behavior in the lab.
The University conducted an internal investigation regarding the woman's allegations but did not confirm her account of the night.
McIntosh went on leave from the University on April 23, 2003, the day before he turned himself in to police.
After McIntosh pleaded no contest to the charges in December, School of Medicine Dean Arthur Rubenstein asked for the professor's resignation, which he submitted. He had not been continuing any research while on leave.
McIntosh is considered one of the nation's leading experts on brain injuries and was the vice chairman of the Neurosurgery Department.
Before McIntosh took leave, he was studying possible ways to use stem cells to repair brain injuries.
According to The Associated Press, McIntosh's defense attorney, Thomas Bergstrom, asked that McIntosh be placed on probation and allowed to continue his research.
McIntosh, 52, had been a Penn faculty member since 1992 and is the father of two children.
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