Former Joplin pediatric surgeon pleads guilty to eight child pornography charges, may be deported

Prosecutors are recommending a 17 1/2 year sentenced for a former Joplin pediatric surgeon who recently pleaded guilty to eight counts of possession of child pornography. 

A plea agreement filed October 15 in U. S. District Court for the District of New Mexico includes Guy Rosenschein's admission that he received child pornography on eight dates in 2015 and 2016.

The pornography included depictions of children under 12, according to the court document, sadism, masochism and sex and violence involving "infants and toddlers."

Rosenschein, 68, waived indictment on these charges, which were reached following negotiations which had been ongoing for months.

The plea agreement included a notation that Rosenschein, who is an immigrant, may be deported, but those procedures are separate from this case.

If he is not deported, the government is recommending his prison sentence be followed by five years of supervised probation and that Rosenschein be required to register as a sex offender.

While Rosenschein acknowledged his possession of child pornography, earlier court filings indicated behavior that may have been far worse.

In a 2017 ruling, Judge Laura Fashing called Rosenschein a danger to society:

Although Dr. Rosenschein does not have any prior criminal convictions, his personal history suggests that he is a danger to children, and that he is willing to use his position as a pediatric surgeon to gain access to minors for the purpose of engaging in inappropriate behavior.

Court documents indicate searches of devices found in Rosenscheim's home turned up close-up photos of youthful male genitalia that had apparently been taken "in a medical setting."

Law enforcement officers also found an undressed teenage boy in Rosenschein's bed. At first, Rosenschein claimed the boy was his nephew, but it later turned out the youth was a patient of his.

Rosenschein's crimes were detailed in a 2017 detention motion:

On July 21, 2016, and again on August 8, 2016, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received a cybertip from “chatstep.com” indicating that a user identifying himself as “Carlo” had sent images of child pornography to another user. The IP address associated with the user “Carlo” originated from the Albuquerque area.

NCMEC forwarded this information to the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, and Bernalillo County Sherriff’s Office (BCSO) Detective Kyle Hartsock initiated a criminal investigation.

Detective Hartsock first reviewed the distributed files and confirmed that the images contained child pornography. Detective Hartsock observed that the image distributed on July 31, 2016, is a color image depicting a prepubescent boy laying on his stomach on a bed with a distinct patterned bedspread and pink/purple blanket. (The next two paragraphs describe photos of an adult and the boy engaged in anal sex.)

Detective Hartsock obtained a subpoena for the internet service provider associated with the IP address and learned that the account was registered to Defendant, a pediatric surgeon employed by Presbyterian Hospital.

On November 7, 2016, Detective Hartsock obtained a state search warrant for Defendant’s residence, which was executed the following day. During the execution of the search warrant, law enforcement located a 16-year-old boy (John Doe) inside Defendant’s bed wearing only underwear.

Defendant falsely identified John Doe as his nephew, but law enforcement later determined that John Doe was a former patient of Defendant’s.

The search of Defendant’s residence revealed numerous electronic devices that were seized for further analysis. The forensic analysis on most of the seized devices remains pending. Several of the devices are encrypted and will require further analysis in order to gain access. During the search law enforcement located a thumb drive attached to a keychain found in the ignition of Defendant’s vehicle, which was found to contain over one thousand images and videos of child pornography. This thumb drive is the subject of Count 3 of the indictment.

Defendant was first interviewed by Detective Kyle Hartsock during the execution of the search warrant and was later interviewed by FBI SA Marcus McCaskill. During his first interview, Defendant stated that John Doe was a former patient who stays with him from time to time. Defendant stated he owns two planes and a helicopter and has flown John Doe to several locations throughout the United States.

During his interview with SA McCaskill, Defendant admitted that he is sexually attracted to underage males “on occasion,” but has not had sexual contact with a minor since approximately 1994 in Paris.

When asked about chatstep.com, Defendant admitted that he has likely used the name “Carlo” in the past. Although he stated that he usually uses the name “Steve.” Defendant accepted responsibility for the thumb drive and stated that he obtained it in Europe several years ago. He stated that he had not looked at the thumb drive in approximately seven years, however the forensic data indicates that the files were accessed as recently as May 2016.
The complete forensic analysis of the seized thumb drive indicates that the device contained approximately 1,042 images and 78 videos of suspected child pornography. The initial file comparison from NCMEC indicates that Defendant possessed 41 files of previously identified children. Is it clear from the files contained on the thumb drive that the focus of the collection is prepubescent and pubescent minor males.

Following the execution of the first search warrant, federal law enforcement officers learned that Defendant’s home contained a “secret room” located inside the residence. This room was not discovered during the execution of the first search warrant.

Pursuant to a federal search warrant, agents re-entered Defendant’s residence and gained access to the room where they located two safes. Inside one of the safes, agents located five printed photographs depicting a dark-complected, possibly foreign-born, minor male child who was approximately 11 to 15 years of age based on body and pubic development.

Four of the photographs depicted the child nude in the shower. The time stamp on the back of the photo noted “Avril 94” (April 1994). Agents also located flight logs detailing an entry for travel to the Koh Kong province of Cambodia in March 1994.

An Apple iPhone3G was seized from Defendant’s office inside his residence. Defendant provided BCSO officials with the password to access this phone. The forensic analysis of the phone revealed a Yahoo Messenger account with the user name “cambodia1994.”

Hundreds of Yahoo chat messages were recovered from the phone, most of which focused on sexually explicit conversation. “Cambodia1994” primarily identified himself as “Steve” and claimed to be a teenage male living in the United States. “Steve” engaged in sexually explicit conversations with multiple users, often presenting himself as a minor working in a “club” and being forced to have sexual contact with adult males. “Steve” describes violent sexual experiences and how he is increasingly enjoying the contact.

(The next portions of the motion featured verbatim transcripts of the conversations.)

Law enforcement also seized an iPhone6 from Defendant’s residence. The forensic analysis of this phone revealed approximately one dozen photographs that appear to have been taken in a hospital or medical setting.

Investigators learned that it is against Presbyterian Hospital policy for physicians to take medical photographs on their personal phones. Several of the photographs depict close up views of genitalia. 

No date has been scheduled for Rosenschein's sentencing.