Daniel Dresdner and his Alleged Aveirois

 

Spring Valley, Pomona Therapist Daniel Dresdner & Daas Wellness Center Sued by 2 Clients for Alleged Sexual Assault

He has been indicted with 55 counts of Sexual Abuse 

Quick note: Dresdner has previously worked at Westchester Medical Center, North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, Bais Ezra, Bikur Cholim, and HASC.

In June, 2018, Plaintiff Jane Doe was suffering from depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues as a result of trauma she had suffered during her life, and sought treatment by Daniel Dresdner, who was working at DAAS. According to the complaint, beginning in 2019 Dresdner began grooming Jane Doe by paying her complements on her jewelry, clothes, and physical appearance. Between April and June 2020, treatment took place over the phone, but returned to in-person treatment at DAAS. According to the complaint, Dresdner at some point invited Jane Doe to his home for an appointment, and spoke to her for many hours until 2 AM by the firepit in his backyard.

Jane Doe alleges that in June of 2020, Dresdner deceived her into meeting him for a session in a park in New York City. After arriving at the park, the complaint alleges that Dresdner informed Jane Doe that he had had to stay in New York City, and started confiding in her about his personal life. The complaint then details what he disclosed: That he had been arrested in Florida in May 2020 for assaulting a police officer, among other charges, that he had a drug and alcohol addiction, and that he had personal issues at home. According to the complaint, Jane Doe was shocked not only by the information but also because she had paid for this session which was supposed to be focused on her own wellbeing, not his. Not knowing any better, Jane Doe alleges that she trusted him as he continued to normalize this conduct with her.

 

Dresdner then allegedly convinced Jane Doe that she needed first two sessions a week and then three sessions a week. During their session in the park, Dresdner allegedly told Jane Doe that it’s good to get out of the community and spend time on her own outside her home. He also allegedly told her that he’d been kicked out of his home for drug use which was why he had to stay in New York City. According to the complaint, when Jane Doe was leaving the park to go home, Dresdner asked her to go with him to his hotel room. He allegedly explained that he didn’t like his room and wanted her to come with him to a different hotel to continue their session. Jane Doe says that she felt very uncomfortable but went anyway, and during their session in the room he took a Xanax and offered her one as well. According to the complaint, Jane Doe did not take the Xanax, and left after an hour because she felt very uncomfortable.

The complaint further alleges that Dresdner continued the grooming back at DAAS. According to the complaint, he asked her to meet him in a restaurant for one session, and ate the food he bought in her car in the parking lot. In July 2020, the complaint alleges, Dresdner began seeing his clients at his private office in Pomona rather than at DAAS, without Dresdner or DAAS informing them about the reason for the move out of DAAS. According to the complaint, Jane Doe began having sessions with Dresdner in places like Haverstraw Bay Park, his car, Dunkin Donuts, supermarkets, ice cream stores, pizza stores, and other non-professional settings, each time getting very personal with Jane Doe, and having personal conversations with her about his personal issues and family life.

In August 2020, Jane Doe gave birth to her son, and went to a postpartum care house for two weeks, taking a break from her in-person therapy. Despite that, according to the complaint, Dresdner called and texted her daily, and tried getting Jane Doe to have him let into the house by telling the staff that he needed to give her therapy during her recovery. Jane Doe claims that she felt uncomfortable by this and didn’t want to ask, and Dresdner told her that he’d try sneaking in a window. In September 2020, when Jane Doe left the house, she confronted Dresdner about his actions. Despite this, Dresdner allegedly didn’t stop his advances and grooming.

According to the complaint, Dresdner then held a couple’s session with Jane Doe and her husband John Doe, along with Israel Teitelbaum, a couples counselor, where he prescribed an intense trauma therapy which included her going to a hotel alone at least once a week to sleep over and have her own space. Starting in November 2020 Dresdner allegedly told the Jane Doe she needed to meet him for 1-3 hours a day for intense trauma work, which she agreed to. Two weeks in, he allegedly started to give her a hug during each session. During one of the sessions, after the hugs had began, Jane Doe allegedly told Dresdner that she was experiencing back pain. According to the complaint, Dresdner compelled Jane Doe to lie down on her stomach on the couch to alleviate the pain, and started giving her a massage once she was lying down.

The complaint alleges that Jane Doe told him repeatedly to stop, but he continued massaging her, and every time Jane Doe tried getting up he would pressure her to lie back down and allow him to continue massaging her. All the while, Dresdner allegedly claimed this was a necessary part of the treatment.

During sessions at Dresdner’s office from November 2020 to March 2021, Dresdner allegedly began lying on top of Jane Doe on his couch, and then pressure her to lie in the floor where he would allegedly lay on top of Jane Doe and grind his erection against her vagina, buttocks, and other parts of her body, often to completion, and kiss her without permission. The complaint explains that due to Jane Doe’s religious faith and upbringing she could not stop this from happening.

In December 2020, Dresdner allegedly came to Jane Doe’s hotel room, and force her to perform what seemed to be a fetish experience for him consisting of him making her lie on the bed with her hands over her head while he lay next to her pressing his body against her and rubbing her back, after which he hugged her and left. The complaint further alleges that afterward, during therapy sessions in his office, he continued forcing her to do similar things while telling her she was “such a good piece,” commenting on her physical appearance, and repeatedly grabbing her buttocks, legs, and breasts.

According to the complaint, Dresdner would occasionally express guilt for touching her, and would spend a session or two not trying to have any sexual contact with her, after which he would go back to doing the acts described above. The complaint alleges that each time he would start to touch Jane Doe she would tell him that she didn’t want that, and told him to stop, but that he would make her an emotional wreck and continue sexually assaulting her anyway. Later that month, Jane Doe allegedly told Dresdner that she wanted to see another therapist because she was emotionally and psychologically a wreck. Dresdner allegedly then referred her to his own therapist, Susan Sterngold, telling Jane Doe that he told Sterngold everything in his life. According to the complaint, Jane Doe told Sterngold what Dresdner had been doing to her, and Sterngold sent her a text message stating that what Dresdner had been doing was predatory, and retraumatizing, and asked Jane Doe permission to send the text to Dresdner. The complaint states that Jane Doe then sent the message to Dresdner who responded by saying that Sterngold had betrayed him, and demanding that Jane Doe cut her off, block her number, and come back to Dresdner.

Dresdner allegedly tried to justify his touching her by saying that it was ok that they were touching because it wasn’t like she had chosen her husband anyway, since it had been a traditional arranged marriage. Buy that point Jane Doe alleges that she had lost her self esteem, and was emotionally and psychologically incapable of stopping Dresdner from doing what he wanted.

According to the complaint, Dresdner began smoking weed during their session even after being told to stop, started buying gifts for Jane Doe, clothing, earrings, and other items. One night, according to the complaint, after a wedding he’d attended, Dresdner got into Jane Doe’s car and began, without her consent, touching and kissing her. He then allegedly began forcing her to start using marijuana and get high, and told her he was going to give her weed, booze, and pills so she could pass out with him, after which he’d sexually assault her. He allegedly also wondered aloud about what it would be like if their spouses died so they could be together. Jane Doe states that all these comments, advances, forcible touching, were taking a severe emotional and psychological toll on her.

In the meantime, according to the complaint, DAAS had failed to tell any of Dresdner’s clients that he had been fired from DAAS for sexual misconduct, violation of regulations, or forcing clients to use illegal drugs, which was allegedly why he had moved his practice from DAAS to a private office.

For all the sessions Jane Doe had with Dresdner, her insurance was billed and she had to pay.

Plaintiff Sarah Doe sought treatment from Dresdner to help treat trauma she experienced after being sexually assaulted while in inpatient at a hospital. She was being treated for depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and other mental health issues, and was being treated up to 5 times a week, both in individual sessions and group therapy. Sarah Doe was also brought up in a very religious household unconnected to the secular world, and sheltered from the things people generally know in secular society. Sarah Doe saw Dresdner from June 2019 to March 2021.

As he had with Jane Doe, Dresdner allegedly started complementing Sarah Doe on her clothing, jewelry and appearance. According to the complaint, Sarah Doe suffered from periods of dissociation and seizures, which Dresdner was allegedly aware of. The complaint alleges that despite both DAAS and Dresdner being aware that she needed further inpatient treatment, they disregarded that and scheduled her for outpatient treatment instead. During a number virtual sessions held during the pandemic lockdowns, Dresdner allegedly would make inappropriate sexual comments, and send her songs and videos that indicated his desire to engage in sexual acts with her. According to the complaint, during those conversations he would give her recipes for weed edibles, tell her that he wanted to engage in S&M with her, including choking, bondage, inflicting pain on her, as well as wanting to be bitten and hit, and showing her videos of all of the above.

The complaint further alleges that Dresdner would rub his genitals, while clothed, against Sarah Doe while she was incapacitated during episodes of dissociation during sessions, sometimes to completion, and would smoke or ingest weed products, take illegal narcotics, drink alcohol, and sexually assault her. According to the complaint Sarah doe continually told Dresdner that she needed inpatient treatment for her depression, anxiety, and eating disorders, but Dresdner told her that he could provide her with the same treatment and that there was no need or benefit to going to an inpatient facility.

Nonetheless, around July 2020 Sarah Doe checked herself into an inpatient facility. While she was there, Dresdner, while still working for DAAS, allegedly repeatedly called Sarah Doe to convince her to leave, which she did the same day. According to the complaint, Dresdner, before picking her up from the inpatient center, stopped at her house to drop off some weed products for her with her husband. Dresdner then allegedly showed up at the inpatient center drunk and high, and after getting Sarah Doe in the car, allegedly made reference to her having been previously assaulted at a gas station, which sent her into a dissociative state for several hours. Dresdner allegedly then drove Sarah Doe to his house, built a fire in the yard, began using weed, made sexual innuendos about Sarah doe, and touched Sarah Doe without her consent.

Following this, according to the complaint, Dresdner scheduled her appointments over the next few weeks during which he gave her weed edibles, while taking some himself, and while she either dissociated or had a seizure, would rub up against her with his clothed penis to completion, after which he’d clean up in the bathroom. According to the complaint, about week later Dresdner was informed he was being fired from DAAS. He allegedly did not inform any of his clients that he was being fired from DAAS, why he was being fired from DAAS, and DAAS for its part allegedly failed to notify any of the patients, including Sarah Doe, why Dresdner had been fired.

After moving their sessions to his private office, Dresdner allegedly continued his sexual assault of Sarah Doe by inducing dissociation or seizure and rubbing himself against her to completion. Additionally, according to the complaint, Dresdner would have Sarah Doe fight him or have a physical confrontation with another female patient while he watched. On one such occasion, the complaint alleges that Dresdner punched Sarah Doe in the mouth so hard that he broke her tooth, which required extraction, a bone graft, and a replacement implant, which also caused a seizure in his office.

The complaint further alleges that for one session Dresdner took Sarah Doe on a hike during which he repeatedly told her that he wanted to show her how to be tied down during sex and what to do while tied up to help her sex life. After walking to a secluded area, Dresdner then allegedly took off his pants and underwear and began masturbating in front of her while standing over a rock overlooking the lake.

Sarah Doe also alleges that at times during sessions at Dresdner’s office she would dissociate or have a seizure and wake to find Dresdner lying or sleeping on top of her with his arms around her. Dresdner also seems to have engaged in some stalking behaviors, including allegedly buying airline tickets to follow her to Arizona where she had been planning to check into a treatment center, or setting up a gofundme account to raise money for her treatment in Colorado and then allegedly telling her he was buying tickets so he could follow her there and buy weed, or allegedly following Sarah Doe and her husband down to Florida and booking a room at the same hotel. During the incident at the hotel, Dresdner allegedly began to text Sarah Doe, sending her pictures and video of him at an ice bar and asking her to join him. He also allegedly showed up in the restaurant when she was having dinner with her husband, bought a bottle of wine, and sat himself down at their table uninvited.

According to the complaint, during the incidents with both of these women, DAAS was aware of the complaints against Dresdner, and had known about prior complaints, and failed to either fire him or warn them about his behavior.

I have not included excerpt screenshots because of how detailed this case is. Excerpts would not do it justice.

Link to full complaint:  https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=P0pJibQyyWJJZC4asc/9LA==