A prominent doctor who had been found guilty of victimizing patients sexually hanged himself in a Rikers Island jail early Monday. According to jailhouse sources, the man who committed suicide was a Manhattan neurologist facing up to 25 years to life imprisonment after being found guilty of raping his patients last month.

Around 6 a.m., the 68-year-old was discovered at the Eric M. Taylor Center unconscious in a shower with a sheet wrapped around his neck, according to sources and the Department of Correction. He entered a shared shower area early on Monday, stood on a chair, and used a piece of cloth to hang himself, according to the sources.

Prosecutors claimed that for more than a decade, he treated patients with rare diseases and chronic pain issues before giving them access to highly addictive painkillers so he could force them to engage in sexual activity in exchange for the drugs. Cruciani was charged with grooming patients by prescribing excessive amounts of painkillers and then requesting sexual favors. One patient revealed that he would not write the prescriptions until she did something for him.

Cruciani was found guilty on 12 counts of third-degree rape, sexual abuse, attempted rape, predatory sexual assault, and criminal sexual act after a month-long trial. Trial witnesses, including a disabled woman, allegedly told prosecutors that Cruciani threatened to commit suicide if any of his victims came forward to report his crimes.

Prosecutor Shannon Lucey termed him “evil in a white coat.” On September 14, his sentencing was scheduled.

It appears there was no floor officer walking the unit where Cruciani was assigned, according to two sources who spoke to The News, raising the larger question of how the ongoing issue of vacant posts in jails affects actual events.

27 Year Old Woman Repeatedly Raped in Manhattan, New York by a Man Posing as a Delivery Driver