Arredondo, who has worked with Latino victims of crimes since 2012, said this was the first time she’s involved a consulate in order to get a callback from the police.

“It’s been very frustrating to see them not be able to make a report,” she added. “For me, it was common sense that you went to the police, they took your report and started to work on it.”

The consulate confirmed that at least two women did go to its offices “looking for support” and that it called the detective in charge in August to ask for an update on the case. The goal, said Maria Fernanda Gomez Contreras, head of the consulate’s office of protection, was “to ensure that the women are being heard and that they deserve the same treatment as anyone else.”

Bernal, who did go to the consulate, is one of 49 women who went to Provo police over the last nearly two years to report that Broadbent sexually abused them. Utah County prosecutors are considering charges in some of the cases but have not decided whether to criminally charge the doctor. He has agreed to stop practicing medicine while this police investigation is ongoing. As part of a separate civil case, Broadbent’s attorneys have said sexual assault allegations against him were “without merit”; the doctor did not respond to a request for comment, sent through his lawyer, about this case.

In March, 20 Mexican immigrants filed a civil lawsuit against two hospitals where Broadbent worked, saying that they knew of his alleged misconduct and failed to act. (Attorneys for the two hospital systems have asked a judge to dismiss the suit, arguing that Broadbent’s alleged actions against these women didn’t take place on their premises. One of the hospitals, MountainStar, also said in a statement it was not aware of complaints being made to the hospital itself, that Broadbent is not and was not a hospital employee, and that he doesn’t have privileges there now.)

The Salt Lake Tribune and ProPublica interviewed 14 of those women who, between March 2022 and April 2023, went to the police station to allege that he inappropriately touched their breasts, vaginas and rectums during exams — often without warning or explanation, and in ways that hurt them and made them feel violated.

The interviews by the two news organizations also reveal that many of these women faced delays, language issues and insensitive interviews when they went to the police. Of the 14, five said police turned them away at least once.

Bolding added, archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20231219130837/https://www.propublica.org/article/utah-women-tried-to-report-their-sexual-assaults-to-police-they-say-they-faced-delays-and-language-barriers