A former orthopedic surgeon at Flint Hills Orthopedic and Sports Medicine at Geary Community Hospital in Junction City , Allan Drysdale Holiday, has pleaded no contest and been found guilty of two misdemeanor counts of Endangering a Child.
A plea agreement was reached in his case, and the no contest pleas were entered Thursday in Geary County District Court. One felony charge of Aggravated Sexual Battery was dismissed.
Prosecutor Chris Biggs stated that the initial charge of Aggravated Sexual Battery carried a 32-month presumptive sentence, if convicted. “But it’s what’s called a border box where there’s no guarantee of any prison time.”
Biggs also said, “In addition that particular crime required proof that the touching was accomplished by fear, and one of the factual questions in the case was whether the fear occurred prior to the touching or after the touching. And if it was after the touching then it would have a bearing on that particular element.” Biggs noted he felt that if the matter had gone to trial the best opportunity for the State would have been to obtain a conviction for one count of the lesser offense of Sexual Battery, a class A misdemeanor. Instead, under the agreement, Holiday was convicted of two misdemeanor charges which carried a consecutive penalty of one year on each count.
Following the pleas in District Court the imposition of the 24-month jail sentence was suspended and he was placed on supervised probation for 24-months. As a condition of probation Holiday was then ordered to serve 30 days in the Geary County jail, effective immediately. After that he will be released on probation.
The probation has a variety of conditions ranging from no contact with the victims and no contact with minors under the age of 18 unless they’re accompanied by a parent, to 100 hours of community service which may be served in his professional capacity, and to an evaluation which will also require him to follow all recommendations contained in it including behavioral, medical, and environmental.
The Defense Attorney for Holiday, Bob Pottroff, said this was a situation where the parties could get together and resolve a case in a fashion beneficial for everyone. “There was potential in this case for lots of people to get hurt unnecessarily, and take risks unnecessarily, and be subjected to things that were not pleasant. This agreement avoided all of that for the good of virtually everyone.”
Pottroff also disclosed details about Holiday’s life that had not been revealed before, including the fact his ( Holiday’s ) wife had died unexpectedly 25 years ago and he had to raise a 3-year old son. “It’s during that period of time that Doc figured out for himself that he may be gay, however he refused to ever acknowledge that. And his strong religous beliefs and his conservative value system made it such that he did everything in his power to hold back any of those feelings and hold back the reality that in all probability he was gay.”
Pottroff noted this event was a shock to many, including Holiday. “But nobody knows that he voluntarily turned in his license ( medical ) knowing that if he could go through the treatment and the life changes that are necessary to get himself back in full control where could function as one of the top surgeons in the country he was going to do so. He has been in treatment since then, and there will only be a 30-day break during this time that he spends in the Geary County jail, from that treatment.”
Pottroff stated he believed Holiday, within the next one to two years, will reemerge as a talented member of the medical community, serving the medical needs of patients as he done for most of his adult life.
Holiday was arrested by Junction City police last July after they reported that they had received a complaint in the case on July 26th involving a 16-year old juvenile. Geary Community Hospital officials confirmed some time later that Holiday was no longer employed by by the hospital.