Police say the recording shows a 29-year-old woman was attacked while sedated during a cosmetic procedure in October.
MIAMI, FL — A Miami doctor was charged this week after police said a patient’s cellphone video showed him sexually battering her while she was sedated during a cosmetic procedure at his office last fall. Ronald Freeman DeMeo, 63, was arrested Wednesday and accused of three counts of sexual battery on a physically helpless victim.
The case has drawn sharp attention because investigators say the key evidence is a video the patient did not know she had recorded until days after the appointment. Prosecutors said the woman was unable to resist after taking prescribed medication, inhaling nitrous oxide and drinking wine offered by a staff member before the procedure. DeMeo’s lawyer told a judge the encounter was consensual and called the criminal case an attempt to shake down his client, setting up a direct clash over what the video shows and what happened inside the office at 2801 SW 3rd Ave.
According to the arrest report, the alleged assault happened Oct. 25, 2025, when the 29-year-old woman went to DeMeo’s Miami office for a follow-up cosmetic procedure. Investigators said DeMeo had directed her to take prescribed medication and inhale nitrous oxide for pain management before the treatment. The woman told police that while she was waiting, a staff member offered her a glass of wine, which she accepted because it was something usually provided to patients. She said she remembered DeMeo entering the room, telling her he would see her in a while and instructing her to continue inhaling the gas. She then recalled him closing the blinds. After that, she told detectives, her memory became fragmented. Police said she reported feeling as if she had been pushed down, opening her eyes briefly and seeing DeMeo over her body. She told investigators she was too impaired to speak or fight back and only wanted the assault to end.
Detectives said the woman left the office and later found a video of the incident saved on her phone. Police spokesman Mike Vega said investigators believe she had been recording short clips of the procedure and that the phone fell near her lap with the camera still running after she lost consciousness. An officer who reviewed the recording wrote in the arrest report that it showed nonconsensual sexual acts and gestures. Police have not released the video publicly, but officers described it as graphic and central to the case. DeMeo was arrested Wednesday at his office, and Miami-Dade corrections records showed he was booked shortly before 12:50 a.m. Thursday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Investigators have not publicly said whether anyone else was present in the treatment area when the alleged assault took place, whether staff saw anything unusual afterward or whether additional recordings or office records were seized beyond the phone video and evidence gathered through search warrants.
DeMeo is a licensed Florida physician whose primary practice address listed by the state matches the same SW 3rd Avenue office named in the criminal case. His public professional profiles describe him as a pain management and anesthesiology specialist who also operated cosmetic and spine practices in Miami. That background has added to the seriousness of the allegations because prosecutors say the patient was in a medical setting and under the effects of substances linked to the treatment process when the assault occurred. The case also raises questions about office practices described in the arrest report, including the use of wine for patients awaiting cosmetic procedures. Police have not said whether investigators are reviewing those practices as possible evidence, as a regulatory matter or both. NBC 6 reported that Vega said detectives are looking for possible additional victims, an indication that investigators are now trying to determine whether the woman’s account points to a wider pattern or a single charged incident. As of Friday, no additional criminal charges or alleged victims had been publicly identified by Miami police or prosecutors.
At bond court on Thursday, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer ordered DeMeo held under total lockdown house arrest with a GPS monitor, barred him from practicing medicine while the case is pending and ordered him to have no contact with the woman. He also must stay away from her home, school and workplace, according to courtroom reports. The defense pushed back hard. Attorney Daniel Lurvey told the judge the encounter was consensual and said he had video evidence that would exonerate DeMeo. Lurvey also argued that the woman, through her lawyers, had demanded $10 million from DeMeo, that DeMeo refused to pay and that he had filed a lawsuit accusing her of extortion before she went to police. The judge questioned how the phone could have captured the encounter if the woman was unconscious, and the defense responded that the phone had fallen to the floor and started recording accidentally. Court reports identified Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Ariel Rodriguez as the judge set to preside over the criminal case going forward.
Outside the courtroom, the case quickly became one of the most closely watched criminal filings in Miami because it sits at the intersection of medicine, consent and recorded evidence. The office address listed in the case is in The Roads neighborhood, just west of Brickell, an area better known for medical offices and small businesses than for headline criminal prosecutions. Vega, speaking publicly about the investigation, said the video may have turned a case built on suspicion into one backed by direct evidence. He said that without the recording, the woman might only have been able to tell police she believed something happened while she was impaired. The defense, meanwhile, has framed the same evidence as proof of consent and has signaled that the criminal case will be fought aggressively. That leaves jurors, if the case reaches trial, to weigh not only the images on the phone but also the setting in which the encounter occurred, the patient’s condition, the sequence of medication, nitrous oxide and alcohol, and the conduct expected of a physician treating a patient in his care.
For now, the case remains at an early stage. DeMeo has been charged, the restrictions from bond court are in place and investigators are still working to determine whether other patients may come forward. Prosecutors have not announced any plea discussions, and no trial date was publicly listed in the reports available Friday. The next milestone is expected to come in Miami-Dade court as the case is assigned and attorneys begin fighting over evidence, including the cellphone video that both sides say supports their version of what happened.
Author note: Last updated March 21, 2026.