Delaware County chiropractor headed to trial after women allege assaults in his office

A Springfield chiropractor will face trial in Delaware County Court on charges that he assaulted seven women who went to him for treatment.

Ardel Cirio, 61, is charged with seven counts of indecent assault and one count of aggravated indecent assault. Prosecutors say he groped and fondled the women in his office in Newtown Square at various points over the last two years.

In a nearly four-hour court hearing Wednesday, the seven women described chiropractic sessions with Cirio that they said left them paralyzed with fear as he groped their breasts and in one case digitally penetrated a woman’s vagina.

» READ MORE: Delaware County chiropractor charged with sexually assaulting 5 patients

One woman said she felt “frozen on the table” during one alleged assault. She didn’t immediately report it, she said, because she had been a patient of his for three years and trusted him.

“I didn’t want to believe what I felt,” the woman said. “I knew something was off and I didn’t want it to be true, because I considered him and his wife my friends.”

Other longtime patients said Cirio had always made chiropractic adjustments over their clothing but suddenly began to reach underneath their clothing or asked them to remove it entirely in sessions that quickly turned disturbing as they said he groped them and kissed or licked their breasts.

In March, two women reported the assaults to Newtown Township police, and Cirio was arrested. After the charges became public, five other women came forward with similar reports of assault as recently as last month.

In court Wednesday, Cirio’s attorney, Arthur Donato, asked Magisterial District Judge Leon Hunter to dismiss the case, saying Cirio’s behavior was not sexual and was part of the normal course of chiropractic treatment.

Donato said there was “no evidence he was trying to have sex with these women or anything sexual in nature.”

Assistant District Attorney Kristin Kemp sharply disagreed, saying that Cirio’s actions were invasive and nowhere near normal for a chiropractor.

“We are not talking about someone going to a gynecologist or for a breast exam,” Kemp said. “A chiropractor doesn’t have implied consent to touch these victims in any way he chooses.”