An October 4th sentencing hearing is scheduled in Mercer County Common Pleas Court for a doctor convicted of molesting two seven-year-old boys.

A jury found Dr. Hisham Shawish guilty of indecent assault of a child under 13 and corruption of minors following his trial last month.

Following the conviction, Judge Daniel Wallace ordered that 49-year-old Shawish of Erie be assessed by the Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board.

The conviction came following a second trial.  A prior trial late last year on two counts of indecent assault of a person under 13 and two counts of corruption of minors, ended in a hung jury.

According to a criminal complaint filed by Hermitage police, two boys who were friends with the doctor's son claim they were molested during sleepovers at the Shawish apartment in 2014 and 2015.

One boy alleges that Shawish touched his genitals and also that the doctor rubbed his bare genitals against the boy's bare buttocks.

Police began investigating after a child told a teacher at Hermitage's Artman School what had happened to him.

One boy claimed that Shawish touched his genitals three times in one night. Although Shawish admitted to police that he did stay in the room with the boy until he fell asleep, he denied touching the child.

The police investigation continued after Children and Youth Services contacted them last year when another boy told investigators that he was experiencing "flashbacks" from an alleged incident at the Shawish home in 2015.

The second boy said he was at a sleepover with Shawnish's son at the home when he woke up with his pants removed and his "friend's father" on top of him.

The child alleged that Shawish pulled off his pants and underpants, then rubbed his bare genitals on the boy's buttocks. The boy says the incident lasted five to ten minutes.

According to the complaint, the boy claimed that his cousin was also "victimized" in the same way on another occasion.

According to a court spokesperson, Shawish will go on trial again in January.

The Pennsylvania Board of Medicine suspended Shawish's medical license in April.

According to Pennsylvania Medical Board records Shawish was first licensed as a physician and surgeon in 2010 and had a practice in Erie.