Well, Tuesday’s Boston Herald was not exactly complimentary to the medical profession on Tuesday as far as criminal justice goes. At least two reports of sex offenses were reflected therein. Of course, that was not the only profession so tarnished. In fact, it would appear that the news is full of such allegations from sports figures to teachers to…well…just about every profession.
For example, take the case of Boston’s Children’s Hospital’s own Dr. Richard J. Keller. This 56-year-old Andover resident has been a much respected physician specializing in pediatric cancer. Unfortunately, he has now also been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of receiving and possessing child pornography.
While the indictment is new, the charges really are not. He was arrested back in September and has apparently consented to be held without bail pending trial. He is also said to have struck a voluntary agreement with the state Board of Registration in Medicine to cease practicing medicine.
According to the seven-page indictment, authorities say Keller was into watching videos of young boys severely mistreated.
Meanwhile, the Commonwealth’s neighbor, Connecticut , apparently has an interesting kinda-sorta medical man in custody in connection with a more…creative…sex crime.
Actually, “kinda-sorta” in this case means “not at all”.
And that is the problem. Well, At least PART OF the problem.
Mr. David E. Anderson, 44, is now an involuntary guest of the state, held on $500,000 cash bail here in Massachusetts. Mr. Anderson is a resident of Newton, Connecticut, but apparently had an affinity for Massachusetts women. He is accused of luring women to his Salisbury beach location, passing himself off as a doctor and performing invasive examinations.
While secretly video-taping the examinations, of course.
Such ‘creativity” was not simply limited to adults. His estranged wife has contacted Connecticut law enforcement that he was also videotaping underage girls at the Salisbury home in the scheme.
And so it was that Mr. Anderson was released on $100,000 bond from his initial appearance in Connecticut last month only to find himself held on $500,000 cash bail in Newburyport District Court to new charges including possession of child pornography and four counts of photographing an unsuspecting nude person, according to the Essex County District Attorney’s office.
Mr. Anderson has pleaded “not guilty” to all offenses. Connecticut police, however, indicate that they have found “thousands” of images on one of two hard drives taken from his Bay State house. They also claim to have identified at least 20 woman he allegedly tricked across six states, including Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and even Seattle. Police say the investigation is open.
“In my almost 26 years in the business, it’s one of the more bizarre cases I’ve come across,” Fowler said. He also explained the chronology of events. Apparently, in November, after Mr. Anderson’s wife allegedly found the nude images of the females on the computer and recognized the footage from a bathroom inside the Salisbury beach home, she called the police. On November 14th, as Mr. Anderson was arraigned on child pornography charges in Connecticut, the police searched his Salisbury house where they found the hard drives.
Fowler said Anderson had created a ruse in which advertised on Craigslist and on fliers, including ones distributed in New York City, offering woman anywhere from $25 to $50 to take part in clinical research. But, Fowler said, Anderson told them they also needed to take part in a “baseline internal exams,” some of which took place at his Salisbury home.
Police are trying to determine exactly how long the scheme had gone on for, though Fowler said some of the videos had timestamps from 2008. Investigators were able to identify some of the victims through questionnaires Anderson had them fill out in attempt to legitimize the scheme, according to Fowler, who described Anderson’s set-up as “very crude.”
“Some of the images show a table with a towel on it. He had some basic medical equipment, blood pressure cuff, a stethoscope,” he said. “They were obviously lied to and convinced they were doing something for some good.”
Attorney Sam’s Take on All Kinds Of Potential Sex Crimes Charges
Whatever criminal charges Mr. Anderson is now facing…he should not assume that the situation has not gotten to its worst for him. He has apparently not yet been indicted anywhere. He will be, however. Most likely in several jurisdictions.
“What are the likely charges, Sam?”
We will return to that in my next blog. In the meantime, Dr. Keller seems to have “given up the ship”. It is not typical to “agree” to be held without bail. I would imagine he has assumed he is going to be serving time at the end of the matter and, anyway, cannot work. At least, in the meantime, he will get credit for the time he is now serving.
It may be of small consolation to Dr. Keller right now, but, at least….he is not in the same position as false-Dr. Anderson…!
For the original article upon which this blog is based, please go to http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1061181209&srvc=rss and http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1061181216&srvc=rss