A former doctor who lied to investigators about sexually assaulting his wife’s best friend in 1989 in her Cincinnati home was sentenced Jan. 28 to 15 years in prison, the maximum possible.
In imposing the sentence in federal court in Dayton, U.S. District Judge Michael Newman referred to Frederick Tanzer as a "serial rapist," said his crimes were "unusually horrendous" and had caused "long-lasting pain, both physical and emotional," to the victims.
Tanzer, 67, could not be charged with rape, prosecutors said, because the statute of limitations that was in place at the time expired in the mid-1990s.
So Tanzer instead was charged with multiple counts of making false statements to federal agents in 2024 when they questioned him about the attack. He lied when he denied having seen or interacted with the woman that day.
But Tanzer’s DNA – taken from a Starbucks coffee cup that he had thrown in the trash – matched DNA found at the woman’s home in 1989.
