Ed. Note: The following article is a news release provided by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

A 62-year-old man that claimed to be a swami, or Hindu monk, plead not guilty on Friday to sexual assault charges after he performed so-called healing rituals, officials with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced.

Gokula Nanda, of West Hills, was ordered to stand trial on charges that he sexually assaulted three women, according to Ricardo Santiago, public information officer for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, in a news release.

Nanda was ordered to stand trial on Dec. 4, 2015, for six counts of sexual battery by fraud, three counts of sexual penetration by foreign object and two counts of sexual battery, said Deputy District Attorney Maren Dermody.

Nanda allegedly sexually abused the victims while claiming to be performing healing rituals at various locations, including his Eastern medicine store in Santa Clarita and a park in Torrance, between April 2011 and April 2015, according to testimony at the preliminary hearing.

He is scheduled for a pretrial hearing on Feb. 29 in Department F of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Torrance Branch.

The defendant faces a possible maximum sentence of 19 years in state prison if convicted as charged.

The case remains under investigation by the Torrance Police Department.