Santa Rosa police are asking the public's help finding a chiropractor who disappeared the day before he was convicted in March of sexual misconduct with eight of his female patients.
Darius Bunyad, 36, faced eight years in prison for six felony charges of sexual battery by fraud. He also was convicted in Sonoma County Superior Court on March 9 of six misdemeanor counts of annoying or molesting a child. The offenses occurred between 2012 and 2015.
Ten victims, some of them high school girls, testified against Bunyad during the two-week trial. Bunyad was in court when attorneys gave closing arguments, but he failed to show up on March 8 and when the jury returned verdicts the next day.
Bunyad was last seen by a family member talking to an unknown female around 3 p.m. on March 8 in the Walnut Creek area, Santa Rosa police Sgt. Terry Anderson said.
Bunyad lived in Petaluma but his Health Performance Chiropractic practice was in Santa Rosa.
Bunyad was born in Afghanistan in 1980 but has lived in the United States for many years, Anderson said.
He changed his first name from Daryoush to Darius and had a shaved head and full beard when he was booked on the charges. Bunyad, however, then grew out his hair and was clean-shaven during the trial.
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Bunyad's attorney Richard Scott said today he has had no contact with Bunyad since the trial and has no idea where he is. He said Bunyad was close to his 4-year-old son and his family is distraught he is missing.
A date for sentencing Bunyad cannot be set until he is found and he will face additional prosecution as a fugitive from justice.
The Sonoma County Alliance has offered a reward up to $2,500 for information that leads to Bunyad's arrest, Anderson said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Santa Rosa police at (7070 543-4040.
