Beach prosecutors drop sex abuse charges against dentist

By Jon Frank
The Virginian-Pilot

VIRGINIA BEACH - Prosecutors on Tuesday dropped charges against a dentist who was accused of sexually abusing two girls.

Francis Lesinski was scheduled to be tried Dec. 5. His lawyer, Jeremiah A. Denton III, said prosecutors gave no reason for dropping the case. Prosecutors could not be reached for comment at their office Tuesday afternoon.

Denton said the charges were brought "at a time of ongoing post-divorce financial disputes between Dr. Lesinski and his former wife."

Lesinski was arrested twice and spent seven to 10 days in jail, Denton said. The girls, who are now adults, told investigators they were abused from 1993 to 2001.

In a written statement Tuesday, Lesinski said he "now faces the task of rebuilding a personal reputation that was destroyed by this now-abandoned prosecution."

Denton said the prosecution should not have let the case drag out so long. "I don't know why it took them so long to do the right thing," he said.