Thanks to a sentence handed down by a federal judge in New Mexico, a former Joplin pediatric surgeon may spend the rest of his life in prison.
During a January 31 hearing, Guy Rosenschein, 68, was sentenced to 17 1/2 years in prison on eight child pornography charges. If he is still alive at the end of that time, he will be placed on supervised probation for 10 years and be required to register as a sex offender.
(Photo- Guy Rosenschein is shown during his 2021 plea hearing in U. S. District Court for New Mexico/KRQE screenshot)
Rosenschein also faces lawsuits from victims in New Mexico and Arkansas where he maintained a practice at the same time as he was practicing in Joplin, as well as criminal charges involving the sexual assault of two boys in Arkansas.
The government's sentencing memorandum indicated that Rosenschein groomed and then sexually abused children in Arkansas during the same time period as he maintained his Joplin practice.
The case against Rosenschein was detailed in the memorandum:
Dr. Rosenschein first came to the attention of law enforcement following two CyberTipline Reports submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (“NCMEC”) by the online chat provider Chatstep.1On July 31, 2016, and again on August 8, 2016, images posted on Chatstep by the user “Carlo” were identified as containing child sexual abuse material (“CSAM”). As required by law, Chatstep routed “Carlo’s” user information, Internet Protocol (“IP”) addresses, and the CSAM to NCMEC in the form of CyberTipline Reports. NCMEC then forwarded the CyberTipline Reports to the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office (“NMAGO”), Internet Crimes Against Children (“ICAC”) Task Force, which submitted the reports to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office (“BCSO”) for investigation.
In short order, BCSO learned that the IP addresses for “Carlo” both resolved to the residence of Dr. Guy Rosenschein, then employed as a pediatric urologist and surgeon at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
On November 7, 2016, then-BCSO Detective Kyle Hartsock obtained a state search warrant for Dr. Rosenschein’s residence, and law enforcement officers executed the warrant the following morning, November 8, 2016.
Although law enforcement never truly knows what they will encounter when executing a warrant, they were alarmed to find a teenage boy in Dr. Rosenschein’s bed wearing only his underwear. Even more alarming was the fact that the minor, John Doe 1, was subsequently identified as a former patient of Dr. Rosenschein’s (and not a “nephew” as falsely claimed by Dr. Rosenschein).
The remainder of the search was rather unremarkable—it revealed numerous electronic devices that law enforcement seized for further analysis. Detective Hartsock interviewed Dr. Rosenschein on scene.
At that time, Dr. Rosenschein admitted the minor in his bed was a former patient who stays with him “from time to time.” During their conversation, Dr. Rosenschein stated he owns two planes and a helicopter and had flown John Doe 1 to several locations throughout the United States. He also admitted to using Chatstep, as well as the username “Carlo.”
By this time, law enforcement had successfully accessed a thumb drive on scene and learned that it contained CSAM. When directly asked about the thumb drive, Dr. Rosenschein stated he obtained it in Europe several years ago but had not looked at the drive in approximately seven years. The forensic data would later show, however, that the files had been accessed as recently as six months prior to the search warrant.
The federal arrest of Dr. Rosenschein
Following execution of the search warrant, the state charged Dr. Rosenschein with child exploitation offenses related to his possession of the CSAM found on the thumb drive. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) obtained a federal criminal complaint on November 9, but not before Dr. Rosenschein was released on state bond.
The FBI arrested Dr. Rosenschein immediately upon his return home.
Discovery of “secret room” inside Dr. Rosenschein’s residence
On November 10, 2016, the FBI learned of the existence of a hidden room, containing a safe, located inside Dr. Rosenschein’s residence which was not discovered during the first search. The room, which was said to be behind a false wall inside a closet underneath the stairs, was present in the home before Dr. Rosenschein purchased it.
The FBI obtained a second search warrant to reenter the residence based on the information relating to the secret room and safe. Upon entry, agents discovered a DataLocker external hard drive in the kitchen that was not there at the time of the execution of the initial search warrant.
Investigators theorized that Dr. Rosenschein removed the hard drive from the hidden room after he posted bond on his state charges, but before his federal arrest, for the purpose of connecting the hard drive to a new laptop to either wipe or modify the contents.
Dr. Rosenschein later pled guilty to possessing the CSAM located on this device. The FBI gained access to the “secret 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. A notation on the back of the photo read “Avril 94” (April 1994). Agents located flight logs detailing an entry for travel to the Koh Kong province of Cambodia in March 1994.
Search of Dr. Rosenschein’s storage unit
On November 22, 2016, federal agents executed a search warrant at a storage unit rented by Dr. Rosenschein and located numerous boxes of organized records and slides. As relevant to Case 1, the criminal case, agents also located records related to a bank account for a minor child, John Doe 2.
Through investigative efforts, federal law enforcement identified and located John Doe 2 and learned he was a former patient of Dr. Rosenschein. During a lengthy interview with the FBI, John Doe 2 detailed lengthy sexual abuse perpetrated by Dr. Rosenschein.
Dr. Rosenschein’s detention hearing
On January 5, 2017, the parties appeared for an evidentiary hearing regarding the issue of detention. Following the presentation of evidence, the Court filed a Memorandum Opinion and Order, ruling there were no conditions of release that would reasonably assure Dr. Rosenschein’s appearance, or the safety of the community.
Based on the evidence presented during the hearing, the Court made the following findings regarding Dr. Rosenschein:
a. “Dr. Rosenschein’s…. personal history suggests that he is a danger to children...”
b. “His personal history demonstrates that he is sexually attracted to young boys, and that he may be willing to take advantage of his position to gain access to them.”
c. “He fantasizes about violent sex between older men and young boys, and he admitted to being sexually attracted to minor boys.”
d. “Although Dr. Rosenschein has no criminal history, he admitted that he acquired the thumb drive containing more than 1100 images and videos of child pornography on it many years ago….”
e. “Despite this history, Dr. Rosenschein was able to hide his predilection for young boys from his family, neighbors, friends and colleagues.”
Finally, the court noted: “And although both John Doe 1 and Dr. Rosenschein denied having a sexual relationship, the fact that his former patient was found in his [Dr. Rosenschein’s] bed in only his underwear suggests that the relationship was not entirely platonic.”
The United States shared the Court’s concerns, particularly when it received notice that Dr. Rosenschein was communicating with John Doe 1 while incarcerated, just months after the detention hearing.
In April and May 2017, Dr. Rosenschein spoke with John Doe 1 on the phone and during an in-person visit at the jail, during which Dr. Rosenschein referred to John Doe 1 as “baby,” and also stated, “I love you baby.”
Forensic analysis of seized devices
In total, law enforcement located approximately 19,116 images and 2,092 videos depicting CSAM on the devices seized from Dr. Rosenschein. The CSAM included material depicting prepubescent minors, as well as material depicting sadistic and/or masochistic conduct and the sexual abuse of an infant.
Forensic analysis also led to the identification of a Yahoo email account that Dr. Rosenschein used to engage in graphic sexual chats and distribute CSAM. The Yahoo username, “cambodia1994,” was of particular significance to the United States given Dr. Rosenschein’s travel logs and possession of the printed images in the safe.
Using the “cambodia1994” account, Dr. Rosenschein often 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 claiming he worked at a “club” where he was forced to have sexual contact with adult males.
Of particular concern to the United States were “Steve’s” graphic depictions of violent sexual experiences, including a chat where he described forced sexual acts with a screaming 15-year-old boy.
Dr. Rosenschein ultimately pled guilty to eight separate counts of distributing CSAM through this Yahoo account.
National investigation leads to identification of several former patients victimized by Dr. Rosenschein
The investigation revealed that Dr. Rosenschein worked as a pediatric surgeon in several locations in the United States, including New York, Arkansas, Missouri, and New Mexico. Law enforcement learned that Dr. Rosenschein had a long history of befriending young male patients, often those particularly vulnerable due to troubled home environments.
Dr. Rosenschein would ingratiate himself with the child’s family to earn their trust—often acting as a role model, godfather, or even a legal guardian—before sexually abusing the young boys. The investigation to date has revealed three victims of sexual abuse committed by Dr. Rosenschein.
The FBI interviewed John Doe 2 in March of 2017. At that time, John Doe 2 reported that he was a former patient of Dr. Rosenschein’s in Arkansas. John Doe 2 had an unstable family life as his mother had died when he was just five years old. Dr. Rosenschein befriended John Doe 2 and his father and took John Doe 2 on flights, including at least one trip to Florida. Dr. Rosenschein purchased John Doe 2 clothes and gifts, and even transferred money into a bank account for him.
John Doe 2 started doing yard work at Dr. Rosenschein’s house, and eventually began staying overnight from time to time. At one point, John Doe 2’s father signed over guardianship rights to Dr. Rosenschein when John Doe 2 was experiencing abuse by his stepmother.
This benevolence was nothing more than a ruse. Rather than serving as the mentor and friend he purported to be, Dr. Rosenschein sexually abused John Doe 2 repeatedly from the time he was 13 years old, beginning in approximately 2004, into early adulthood.
These offenses were referred to Arkansas state law enforcement and the state of Arkansas filed criminal charges in Washington County, There is an active, fully extraditable warrant currently pending for Dr. Rosenschein to face these criminal charges.
John Doe 3 contacted the FBI in December 2017 to report that Dr. Rosenschein had sexually abused him when he was just 11 or 12 years old in approximately 2001 or 2002. John Doe 3 reported that he was seen by Dr. Rosenschein for surgery, which led to Dr. Rosenschein befriending his family.
Dr. Rosenschein would come over to John Doe 3’s house, take John Doe 3 flying and shooting, and often spend holidays with John Doe 3 and his mother. Dr. Rosenschein began sexually abusing John Doe 3 and the abuse continued regularly over the course of approximately two years. John Doe 3 also advised the FBI that there were often similarly aged minor males at Dr. Rosenschein’s residence. The abuse against John Doe 3 is also charged in Washington County, Arkansas, in Cause No. 72CR-19-351.
The mother of John Doe 4 called the FBI in Albuquerque to report that her adult son had recently disclosed that Dr. Rosenschein sexually abused him beginning when he was 12 years old. In what was becoming an evident pattern, John Doe 4’s mother reported that she met Dr. Rosenschein in 1997 in New York when he performed a surgery on her younger son.
She reported that Dr. Rosenschein became the baby’s godfather and also befriended John Doe 4, including taking him on trips. John Doe 4 only recently disclosed to his mother that Dr. Rosenschein had sexually abused him, including molesting him at Dr. Rosenschein’s office in Staten Island, around the same time he began taking him on trips in his plane.
John Doe 4’s mother reported that, in hindsight, the abuse coincided with a dramatic change in John Doe 4’s behavior.
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