A Cincinnati-area doctor has been formally charged for false statements, and writings related to a 1989 cold case rape.
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Frederick Louis Tanzer, 66, is charged with four counts of making false statements to an agency or officer of the United States and two counts of making or using a false document or writing, according to the Department of Justice.
Each count is punishable by up to five years in prison.
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“These federal crimes are prosecutable even if an underlying offense has passed the statute of limitations,” a release by the DOJ stated.
Tanzer is a medical doctor who has lived and practiced medicine in Ohio, Kansas, and Colorado, according to our news partners at WCPO.
According to a criminal complaint, Tanzer was identified earlier this year as a prime suspect in a 1989 Cincinnati rape.
Investigators said they were able to get Tanzer’s DNA from a coffee cup that he had thrown away and match it to DNA on the victim’s underwear.
Authorities said Tanzer knew the victim. When he was recently brought in for questioning, FBI agents said he lied to them.
Agents found items including cable zip ties, restraints, a gag, and a black hat inside Tanzer’s dresser drawer when they searched his home last week, court documents claim.
Court documents allege the 66-year-old was not a one-time offender, preying on multiple women as a “serial sexual predator” for more than three decades.
In Ohio, sex crimes that occurred in the 1980s could only be prosecuted up to six years from the time of the crime. The 1989 rape Tanzer is charged in connection with happened 35 years ago.
“It’s beyond the statute of limitations,” said Patrick Mulligan, Tanzer’s attorney. “It’s not really chargeable.”
We will continue to follow this story.
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