US Gene therapy pioneer guilty of molesting girl

LOS ANGELES, July 20 (Reuters) A world famous scientist known as the ''Father of Gene Therapy'' was convicted of molesting the daughter of a colleague over several years beginning when she was 9 or 10 years old.

William French Anderson, a 69-year-old pioneer in gene therapy who won international renown for his research, was found guilty of one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 and three counts of committing a lewd act on the girl yesterday.

Prosecutors say Anderson, a fifth-degree black belt in tae kwon do who served as a physician for U.S. Olympic teams in the 1980s, began abusing the girl while teaching her martial arts.

He was arrested after she told a counselor she was being abused.

During the trial, prosecutors played a tape-recorded conversation in which the victim, who is now 19, accused Anderson of molesting her. He is heard to respond: ''I just did it. Something in me was just evil.'' At his trial, Anderson denied molesting the girl and testified that during the recorded conversation he didn't realize she was referring to sexual abuse. He said he believed the girl was talking about him putting too much pressure on her to perform well in school.

The former professor of biochemistry, molecular biology and pediatrics, once the subject of glowing profiles in the press who was considered for Time magazine's ''Man of the Year,'' faces nearly two decades in prison.

Reuters YA GC0704