Miami doctor accused of sexually battering sedated patient, police say

A Miami doctor was arrested after police said he was caught on camera allegedly sexually battering a sedated patient during a cosmetic procedure last year.

Dr. Ronald Freedman DeMeo, 63, was arrested Wednesday three counts of sexual battery on a physically helpless victim, an arrest report said.

According to the report, the alleged incident happened Oct. 25, 2025, when the victim, a 29-year-old patient of DeMeo, went to him for a cosmetic procedure.

She said she recalled inhaling nitro, a sedative to alleviate pain before the procedure, along with a prescribed medication, and said while waiting for DeMeo to come in the room, a staff member offered her a glass of wine, something usually given to patients, which she accepted, the report said.

The woman said she remembered seeing DeMeo in the room telling her he’d see her in a while and to inhale nitro before he returned, then said she remembered inhaling nitro and DeMeo being in the room and closing the blinds, the report said.

She also said she recalled being pushed down in what she thinks was an office and opening her eyes and seeing DeMeo over her body sexually battering her, the report said.

“The victim stated she did not have the strength to speak or fight back and just closed her eyes wanting the assault to end,” the report said.

The woman said she felt impaired with no control over her body, then recalled looking for her pants, walking out of the office and not seeing any staff members, the report said.

She said a few days later she was going through her phone which recorded DeMeo sexually assaulting her, and reported it to police, the report said.

Detectives reviewed the video before arresting DeMeo, the report said.

Miami Police spokesman Michael Vega said the woman was documenting the procedure on her phone and that’s how it was recorded.

“She wants to document it, so she starts documenting, ‘okay I’m getting injections in my face, I’m getting this, I’m getting that,’ and through this process, she is recording it, but she’s also taking a gas which makes her calm down, she had also taken a pill to calm down,” Vega said Thursday. “She passes out, the phone falls and it falls right next to her lap, it falls with the screen facing down, the camera facing up, so it’s capturing everything. The doctor then decides to take advantage of her and he does sexual acts on her.”

But during DeMeo’s appearance before a bond court judge on Thursday, his defense attorney said there’s “overwhelming evidence” including a video that exonerates him and shows that it was a consensual encounter.

The defense attorney said the alleged victim through her attorneys had demanded $10 million from DeMeo, which he refused to pay, and that after DeMeo filed a lawsuit against her for extortion, she reported it to police.

The judge ultimately set the bond court hearing for Thursday afternoon.

But Vega said police are looking for more possible victims.

This is something that, if it wasn’t for that video which shows graphically everything that happened, it shows in detail what this doctor did to her, it would have been one of those cases where she says, ‘hey, I think that this happened but I’m not sure,’ but this was evidence that it did,” Vega said. “And the same way it happened to her, we believe that it could have happened to anyone so if anybody has gone to this doctor and feels that they were a victim of something similar, please contact the Miami Police Department.”