Jury convicts X-ray technician of sexual battery against patient

By Staff Report · Tue Aug 11 2026

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY — A San Luis Obispo County jury has convicted a local X-ray technician of misdemeanor sexual battery after finding he unlawfully touched a patient during an appointment in 2024.

District Attorney Dan Dow announced July 29 that John Stephen O’Brien, 47, was found guilty following a seven-day trial. The conviction stems from an incident on or about May 15, 2024, at a local medical office where O’Brien was working as an X-ray technician.

According to evidence presented at trial, the victim visited the office for an X-ray of her back and initially asked for assistance tying her medical gown. After the X-rays were completed, O’Brien offered to untie the gown.

Prosecutors said that after doing so, O’Brien touched and rubbed the patient's back, kissed her back, pressed his body against her and then reached around her and grabbed her breasts.

The victim immediately reported the incident to the medical office and law enforcement. During a police interview the following day, O’Brien acknowledged grabbing the woman's breasts but claimed she had initiated the encounter. He maintained at trial that the patient's movements and body position constituted an invitation for the touching.

The jury rejected that claim and found O’Brien guilty of sexual battery.

Jurors also heard testimony from a former patient who described similar unwanted touching by O’Brien during an X-ray appointment in San Luis Obispo County in 2016. The evidence was admitted under a provision of the California Evidence Code allowing certain prior uncharged conduct to be considered for specific purposes when permitted by a judge.

“Patients place extraordinary trust in medical professionals, and that trust is especially important when a patient is in a vulnerable position during treatment,” District Attorney Dan Dow said. “This verdict holds the defendant accountable for violating that trust and for the unlawful sexual abuse of a patient who did nothing to invite this conduct.”

O’Brien faces a maximum sentence of one year in county jail. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 30 in Department 6 of the San Luis Obispo County Superior Court, with Judge Michael S. Frye presiding.

Feature Image courtesy of SLO County District Attorney's Office