HINGHAM, Mass. − Twenty-two more former patients of a Massachusetts pediatrician have come forward to accuse the former doctor of sexual assault, a prosecutor said Monday in court.

Twenty women and two girls are among the new accusers who said former Dr. Richard Kauff, 68, of Norwell, Massachusetts, assaulted them, according to Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Beth Kusmin. In November, Kauff was charged with 12 felony counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 and four felony counts of rape of a child with force involving two former patients.

The charges refer to dates spanning from November 1991 to August 2004.

Kusmin said the number of allegations "has been growing exponentially" since the original charges became public, and that "it could keep growing," further adding: "We anticipate dozens more similar charges."

Bail for Kauff was set at $50,000, and he was ordered to stay away from the accusers and medical facilities in Norwell and Kingston, Massachusetts, about 40 miles south of Boston, where he practiced. He also can't have unsupervised contact with anyone under 16, including family members, and must surrender his passport and not leave the state without prior approval. He has already relinquished his medical license.

Kauff "adamantly denies the charges," his lawyer Kelli Lea Porges said in court. She described Kauff as "a lifelong member of the community."

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Porges objected to the prosecution's request for $100,000 bail and an order that Kauff wear a GPS monitoring device. She said there is no reason to presume Kauff won't abide by the various stay-away orders that are part of his bail conditions.

Kusmin said Kauff could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted of any one of the four felony rape charges.

The charges stem from statements made to Norwell police by two former patients, both women, who said Kauff abused and digitally raped them during annual physical exams at South Shore Medical Center in Norwell.

The women, who were interviewed separately, told police Kauff abused them beginning when they were 7 and 8 years old, respectively, until they left pediatric care when they were about 18 or 19 years old.

The allegations surfaced after one of the women spoke to her therapist about Kauff. The therapist advised the woman to contact authorities, according to a police report.

"We are taking this very seriously and will cooperate fully with any investigation," South Shore Health said in a statement on Nov. 7. "At this point, our focus is on how to best assist and support all of our patients, families and staff. We are also prepared to help the young women who have come forward with charges against this physician, a former pediatrician who is no longer affiliated with South Shore Medical Center, and will always be prepared to help any of our current or former patients."

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Women discovered similar stories of abuse on social media

On Oct. 4, one of the women who came forward wrote an anonymous post on a Facebook group called South Shore Mamas asking if it was normal for a doctor to digitally penetrate patients during routine checkups, the police report said.

A second woman responded to the post, saying she had similar experiences during annual physicals when she was a child. In the exchange that followed, the women discovered they had the same pediatrician, Dr. Kauff at South Shore Medical Center in Norwell, authorities said.

The women had never met or spoken to each other before that interaction, according to the police report.

Both women told police that the penetration occurred after Kauff had them lie down on an exam table. Both reported that Kauff would tell them to count to three just before inserting his fingers, telling them that "it's like a rocket ship."

Neither woman had complained about vaginal ailments or issues to Kauff, the police report said.

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Parents sometimes in Kauff's exam room blocked from view

The women said Kauff abused them even when their parents were in the examination room. They said he would use his large frame to block their parents' view of what he was doing on the exam table, according to the police report.

Detectives visited Kauff at his Norwell home on Oct. 11 and informed him about the allegations. The police report said Kauff became "extremely upset" and said he had practiced medicine for 40 years without an issue. 

After he was charged, he entered into a "voluntary agreement not to practice" with the state Board of Registration in Medicine.

Kauff's next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 11.

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Officials encourage other victims to come forward

After the arraignment, Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz encouraged anyone with further information related to the case to contact Norwell or Kingston police, the two towns where Kauff practiced for decades.

Cruz said the 20 women and two girls who came forward with additional allegations against Kauff did so after seeing reports in the media.

"Please come forward. We're here to help. It doesn't matter if it happened 10 days ago, 10 years ago or 30 years ago," Cruz said.