Noyac Acupuncturist Charged

A Noyac acupuncturist, Michael P. Gohring, was charged last week with sexual abuse of a patient.



Southampton Town police arrested Mr. Gohring, 64, at his office at 3297 Noyac Road on July 12, the day after the alleged incident took place. According to Detective Sgt. Lisa Costa, a 50-year-old Southampton Town woman who had gone to the man’s office the day before told police that “in the course of her therapy, she was subjected to sexual abuse.” The detective said there might be other patients who have not come forward, and “that is one of our concerns.”



Mr. Gohring is charged with aggravated sexual abuse, a violent felony that carries guaranteed prison time upon conviction.



According to his website, where he goes by the first name of Mikal, Mr. Gohring has practiced Chinese medicine for 24 years and has been a licensed New York State acupuncturist for 19. He was “voted Best of the Best acupuncturists in the Hamptons by Dan’s Papers’ readers poll in 2008, 2009, and 2011,” according to the website.



Southampton Town police charged Mr. Gohring in December with aggravated drunken driving. He is scheduled to answer that charge next month. He was released on $20,000 bond following his arraignment on Sunday.



In other police news, East Hampton Town officers arrested Bert J. Roner, 36, of Riverhead on Sunday, charging him with petty larceny and possession of stolen material. Police said Mr. Roner had been interrupted in the act of stealing copper tubing from a business on Bunker Hill Road in Amagansett.



Bunker Hill, a short road at the hamlet’s eastern side, houses two industrial businesses, both closed on Sundays. A resident of the street heard noises coming from the yard of an excavating company, Doug DiSunno and Son, and, knowing the business was closed, told his wife to phone police while he went out to investigate. There, he later told police, he saw Mr. Roner loading a car trunk with copper tubing.



Mr. Roner did not deny taking the copper. He told police he had been driving to Montauk “to go fishing for striped bass,” and turned into Bunker Hill Road in order to urinate. “I knew that road because I had been there about eight months ago,” he stated.



The witness told police that upon seeing him, Mr. Roner said, “We’re all good,” as he got into his car and began driving away, trunk still open, copper tubing hanging out.



Both men agreed as to what happened next. “He went Derek Jeter on my windshield,” Mr. Roner told police. For good measure, the witness also smashed Mr. Roner’s taillight as he pulled away. They disagreed, however, about whether the witness was swinging a copper tube or, as Mr. Roner saw it, a baseball bat.    Now driving west with a smashed windshield and a broken taillight, trunk open and filled with copper tubing, he was soon pulled over by police.



In East Hampton Town Justice Court on Monday morning, Justice Steven Tekulsky noted that Mr. Roner had a long criminal history. “You have been convicted of two felonies and three or four misdemeanors. You also have an open case in Southampton,” Justice Tekulsky said. He set bail at $2,500, which the defendant said he could not post.



He was taken to the county jail in Riverside, where he remained as of yesterday, and will be brought back to the East Hampton courthouse today.