While law enforcement agencies prepared for their early Thursday morning raid of Dr. George Tyndall’s home and storage unit, Santa Clarita law firm Owen Patterson & Owen continues to work for the growing number of victims their law firm is representing in the scandal.

Los Angeles Police Department detectives served search warrants at the former University of Southern California gynecologist’s Los Angeles home and a storage facility he owned as they investigate allegations that he sexually mistreated patients, the Los Angeles Times reported.

LAPD Capt. Billy Hayes said sex-crimes detectives talked to George Tyndall and seized evidence during the search but did not provide further details.

The search comes on the heels of police reports being filed by nearly 135 women. More than 400 women called a USC hotline set up specifically for victims of the school gynecologist after reports of his alleged abuses began to surface.

Among the hundreds of women who have come forward there are several that have sought out the legal expertise of Owen Patterson & Owen, a Santa Clarita-based law firm.

Owen Patterson & Owen Managing Partner Susy Owen said more victims have come to them for help as the case has grown in size and severity.

As the Valencia-based lawyer puts it, these victims sought her out because she is able to relate to these clients as a woman.

“They are actually afraid of the possibility of having to explain their experience to a man in this context,” Owen said. “For some of these women, they were violated years ago. But when the Los Angeles Times story broke, they felt violated all over again.”

Related: Personal Injury Lawsuits Filed Against USC Gynecologist, 3 Victims Represented By Owen Patterson & Owen

According to Owen, an uncomfortable situation arises for not only the women that have been plagued by “shame” since these encounters with Tyndall first transpired, but also for the women who did not know beforehand that they have been violated.

“I know what is supposed to happen in these exams, and I know absolutely about what is not supposed to happen in an exam,” Owen said. “What had happened to them happened years ago, but when they put it together – that the discomfort they felt during their appointment was not a part of a normal gynecological exam – it becomes much worse and it comes back to them.”

Many of the victims felt that the tight-knit community that exists at USC would also play a factor in shaming them for coming forward, Owen said.

“USC is family, so some of these women are so conflicted about going against USC,” she said. “But the reality is that USC knew about this, they knew about the complaints, they knew as early as the early 2000s that there was something very wrong going on in Dr. Tyndall’s office. The school exposed these women to possible abuse in that very private setting of an exam room.”

“They feel that they were betrayed by their USC family and that their USC experience was tainted,” Owen said “Their loyalty to USC is taken away.”

Owen said many of the clients coming forward now are speaking up because they want justice for themselves, and also wish to protect their children who in the future might belong to the USC family.

“So many of these women have daughters,” Owen said. “In the same way that I want to protect my daughters, these women want to stand up and say, ‘I am not going to allow this to potentially happen to my child.’”

Moving forward, Owen said she hopes the lawsuit filed by Owen Patterson & Owen will hold USC accountable because they “should have taken immediate action,” and will force the institution to put safeguards in place so that the decades of alleged abuse are never repeated.

“We need to take action for you, for your daughters, send a message to all of those watching that this will not happen again, not only at USC, but at all those other universities that are watching,” Owen said. “You owe it to yourselves, and for everyone else out there. We need to make sure that we, as women, are fighting for women.”

Anyone who believes they may have been a victim of Tyndall and would like to know more about their legal options can click here.

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