Dr. A., a respected and popular pediatrician, was indicted for possession of a massive amount of child pornography he kept filed on his computer. He claims there is a "complete separation" between the virtual and real world. While the trial is pending, he continues to practice.
The secret life of Dr. A.
Dr. A., a respected and popular pediatrician, was indicted for possession of a massive amount of child pornography he kept filed on his computer. He claims there is a 'complete separation' between the virtual and real world. While the trial is pending, he continues to practice.
By Esti Ahronovitz • Ha’aretz
In the late morning hours, the Meuhedet HMO branch on International Street in Haifa's Neve Sha'anan neighborhood is somewhat deserted. Over coffee, the nurses chat with the receptionist, and from the pediatrician's office a boy of about 11, in jeans and sneakers, emerges, accompanied by his grandmother. "Come, let's call Mommy," his grandmother says to him. The boy zips up his sweater and they leave the clinic. Inside, Dr. A., the pediatrician, awaits the next patient. In accordance with Health Ministry regulations, the child will enter the examination room accompanied by an adult.
For 15 years, Dr. A. lived a double life: After finishing a shift at a hospital pediatric department, he would go home and watch hardcore child pornography in private. Last July, he was surprised by police investigators from the National Fraud Investigation Unit, who found tens of thousands of neatly arranged files on his personal computer that contained videos and photos of minors having sex, of adults having sex with children and of children being raped.
"The folder contains 83,000 files," says one report, "including close-up shots of the genitals of minors and of sex with minors. The minors in these files are mostly young children, without secondary sex characteristics (pubic hair, breasts and other signs of puberty )."
An indictment filed in December in Haifa Magistrate's Court by prosecutor Eran Bar-Or accuses Dr. A. of storing more than 190,000 pornographic and pedophilic pictures and videos on his computer. He was also charged with disseminating obscene materials, since the pedophilic files on his computer were allegedly available, via a program he used, to other users. Two weeks ago, during the first hearing in the case, A., 44, admitted to the charge of possessing obscene material, but adamantly denied the dissemination charge (see box ). He is now awaiting the next hearing on the matter.
Shortly after the indictment was filed, A.'s work at the Meuhedet HMO was halted and he went on leave. At the same time, a Health Ministry committee headed by Prof. Jacques Michel, director of the Hadassah Mount Scopus Medical Center, was established to consider A.'s continued employment in light of the indictment.
The committee recently decided that A. would be allowed to continue working as a pediatrician for the next six months, on condition that all patients be examined in the presence of a parent or a nurse from the medical staff.
At the Meuhedet clinic in Haifa this week, one could assume that most of the parents waiting to have their children seen by Dr. A. were unaware that the pleasant, mild-mannered physician was facing an indictment for possession and dissemination of obscene material involving minors. Ahuva Lif, spokeswoman for Meuhedet, said this week in response to an inquiry on the subject that "there are guidelines for the clinic's doctors and staff."
Do parents know that the doctor to whom they are bringing their children has been indicted for possessing child pornography?
Lif: "We don't stand there and tell that to patients."
"I'm definitely continuing to work," Dr. A. said in a telephone conversation this week. He declined to meet face to face. "The Health Ministry made a decision after looking into the matter and it was made clear that this has no connection to my work and so they restored me to normal work. There are many inaccuracies and untruths in the indictment."
You admitted that for years you used to watch minors having sex. Can you continue to examine children given the charges you are facing?
"The only offense at issue is a computer offense. There is no charge concerning the real world. A clear distinction must be made between the world of the computer, which we sometimes make the mistake of thinking is our whole world, and reality. The proof of the clear separation between them is the fact that my patients, who know me well, sent letters of support for me after the indictment was filed."
For friends only
Generally, Internet consumers of child pornography are tracked down following a request to the Israel Police from Interpol, which provides the Internet Protocol (IP ) address from which intensive activity on child pornography sites has been identified. In 2009, for example, the Israel Police received 16 such requests. In the next stage, the police may issue a warrant requiring the Internet server to reveal the surfer's identity, and if files containing child pornography are found on his computer, an investigation ensues. It is important to note that surfing such sites is not illegal. It is possession of such material that is illegal.
In early July 2010, A. was summoned to the National Fraud Investigation Unit offices in Lod and questioned by investigators from the computer crimes unit. Stunned at having been discovered, he immediately admitted to the crime of possession. When asked how many files he had stored on his personal computer, he replied: "A lot, thousands."
A. subsequently told the investigators that he had been looking at pedophilic pictures and movies for 10-15 years. At first he used to frequent the central bus station to buy videotapes for NIS 50 each. But the advent of the Internet made things much easier. In the beginning, he took part in international chat rooms on the subject or used a search engine to seek out images. More recently, so he told the police, he began regularly using a file-sharing program that connects registered users and allows for the transfer of files only with the permission of the person in possession of the files. Thus, a user can decide with whom he is willing to share, creating a kind of safe friends list to avoid being exposed. A third party usually vouches for a user's trustworthiness via instant messaging through the program's internal system. After two users officially become friends, they can share materials freely with each other.
"I saw that a lot of people with an interest in child pornography files were using this program, so I installed it," A. told the investigators. "It makes it possible to transfer files faster. You wait in line. When your turn comes, and the person agrees, you can download the file ..."
According to information gathered during the investigation, A. would connect to the program every day or two, in the late-night hours, often leaving his computer on all night to download files. He went by the user name BLABLA3344 and had 78 other user friends - "mostly in connection with pedophilia," as he admitted. A. later told his investigators that he did not know who was providing him with the movies he downloaded. As far as he was concerned, they were virtual characters from Russia, America, France, Brazil and other places who all went by assumed names. "I never met these people, god forbid," he said. "Or chatted with them on the Internet."
Asked how, if that were true, he received the recommendations that enabled him to join the limited circle of users, he replied, "I know someone in the field. Because we know each other, he recommends X to me ... I send them a request, and if they accept the request we can download material from each other."
Investigator: "For what purpose did you download these files?"
A.: "For personal use only ... It's a weakness of mine. But the important point is that it is solely for personal, private use."
When asked, Dr. A. also told the investigators that he never edited or published files with pedophilic content. "It's something personal," he kept repeating. "It absolutely never went from the virtual realm of the computer to the real world, and it is very important to me to emphasize that there was a complete separation and a heavy and closed iron door between my personal use of the computer and all the rest of the world. I did not make contact with any person or party in real life in order to find material in this area. I certainly never harmed anyone personally. No one. I want to emphasize that this never ever left my room."
At one point, one investigator asked: "What is so interesting about this age? What is attractive about this age?" And A. responded: "With the under-18 age group, I was more interested in the sexual thing."
Investigator: "What about the sex?"
A.: "Nothing unusual. Normal stuff."
Investigator: "What's normal? I know what's normal for me."
A.: "I just looked at it, that's all ... It was all done very privately and secretly on the computer."
He went on to explain that watching children of 14 or 15 having sex gave him "sexual relief." When the investigators pointed out that images of much younger children were also found on his computer, children who were not yet showing secondary sex traits, he answered: "When I downloaded files, I downloaded a lot of pictures, hundreds, and I didn't know while I was downloading what would 'come out' of those pictures. Sometimes pictures were downloaded that I didn't want at all, unfortunately. Many of them were left on the computer and not deleted. I had no intention of making any use whatsoever of those pictures."
When asked why he hadn't deleted these files, he replied that there was material he hadn't screened and that had just been transferred intact to other folders. "I should have deleted this material," he admitted. And when he was subsequently asked to respond to the fact that movies were found on his computer in which children as young as 3 or 4 were being raped, he said, "That sort of thing makes me sick."
Investigator: "Then I ask you again - Why did you not delete such things if they make you sick?"
A.: "I agree with the investigator that all of these disgusting files should have been deleted."
Professional, respected, caring
A. graduated from the Technion medical school, which he attended as part of the IDF's Atuda program. Three months after completing his studies and returning to the army, he was discharged due to a gastrointestinal illness. He did his pediatrics residency at Carmel Hospital and worked there for a number of years, during which time he also ran the pediatric emergency room. He went on to work in the pediatric emergency room in Ha'emek Hospital, and in the pediatric ICU at Rambam Hospital. And over the years, he also taught other doctors in various fields.
A.'s investigators focused on his decision to specialize in pediatrics and the implications of that for the case. "Did you choose that [field] because of the connection to children?" A. was asked, and he replied: "[I chose it] because I had a very good professor and he suggested that I stay in his department and specialize in that. And I was really more involved in intensive care, in emergency medicine."
Investigator: "Were there ever times that you took advantage of the situation and touched children [inappropriately]?"
A.: "God forbid, absolutely not."
Investigator: "When I say touching, I also mean when you are examining a patient."
A.: "The only touching had to do with the medical examination and nothing beyond that. Absolutely not - There is an iron wall that separates the different worlds. I have been a doctor for many years and I have never had any thought of doing such a thing, absolutely not. I've been a doctor for 17 years. And I am respected. There has never been a professional complaint or any other complaint against me."
Indeed, the letters of support A. received when he was suspended from work, which he presented at the Health Ministry committee hearing, present a picture of a very professional and well-regarded doctor, who is also sensitive and caring. "Even beyond office hours, in the evening, in your free time, you would take the time to call and see how the kids were doing and give sincere advice," wrote one mother whose daughters were among Dr. A.'s patients. Another letter, sent by parents of three girls, said: "We were so sorry to hear this unbelievable story about Dr. A. ... Our girls love him, trust him and would not want to be seen by any other doctor." The parents go on to describe a serious operation one of the girls had, and praise Dr. A. for his caring attention throughout the process.
"I have known Dr. A. for four years," wrote an official in the Meuhedet HMO, a pediatrician responsible for oversight and quality improvements. "In all sincerity, from deep familiarity with the profession and with most of the pediatricians in the HMO and the hospitals in the north, and all the strict oversight I have done regarding the performance of doctors in the system, I wish to declare that this doctor is known to have superb professional abilities and excellent relationships with all of his patients and with all staff members."
No complaints
This week, people who know A. said that the news of the affair left them completely dumbfounded. Most said they felt sorry for him. "He's a very intelligent person," says one senior doctor who worked with him in the past. "A fellow who knows medicine, a good doctor, a good person. Very kind to parents and children. There has never been a complaint about him from a parent." When asked if there were any early signs of A.'s behavior, the doctor answered: "I was trained to identify children who came here as a result of abuse, I can smell it from far away, and it never occurred to me at all that he had any interest in watching child pornography. When I was told about it I couldn't believe it. It astounds me that he would enjoy that in any way."
One doctor who used to work with Dr. A. was reminded of a joke: "Do you know the difference between a pedophile and a pediatrician?" he asked. "A pedophile really likes children." But contrary to what the joke implies, he says that Dr. A. really did love his work, and was appreciated by his patients' parents for his interest and caring. "The mothers loved him," says another doctor who worked with him for several years in pediatric emergency rooms. "He was always polite, always courteous and gentle. We worked in pediatric emergency medicine, where you work in one big open space. People are always coming and going, there's pressure, you've got parents and sick children to deal with, and he always knew how to be reassuring and to convey positive messages to the parents. He was also always very neat and clean in his appearance. Always with an ironed shirt. There was something maybe a little too polished in his appearance."
Another member of the medical team who worked with Dr. A. says "He was not the unkempt type of doctor, he was always very careful about hygiene. People even used to kid him about it. But now," she says with a sigh, "I was very sad when I heard what he was accused of. I never saw any sign or hint of that. We had a good work relationship."
"He didn't make sexist or crude jokes," says another woman physician. "It's not unusual to find male doctors who tell a lot of sexist jokes. We never heard even the slightest thing like that from him. He was always polite, always very well-mannered."
Within touching distance
Seven years ago, A. became a single parent. His son is now in the second grade. "We were surprised that he didn't seem eager to get married and have kids of his own," says a woman doctor who worked with him a decade ago. "There was something asexual about him." But A. told his interrogators that he has had a girlfriend for the past few years, a woman who lives in Holon. Asked if she knew about his fondness for child pornography, he replied: "She doesn't know about my problem." He also said that the idea of marriage with her "came up but didn't come to be." The investigative material indicates that he would watch the child pornography movies behind a closed door, while his young son slept in the next room.
The interrogators also took special note of his choice to become a father to a male child.
Interrogator: "You had to change his diapers, to bathe him - Were there any fantasies? Any attraction to the boy?"
A.: God forbid. The answer is categorically no. In the clearest and strongest possible way I can say that. Absolutely, positively not. Just as when a father bathes his daughter and lives with his daughter and there are no other thoughts."
Interrogator: "How is the mechanism created?"
A.: "The mechanism is that there is complete separation between the world of the computer and the real world. With no cracks, no passageways. Total and unequivocal separation between the fantasies of the imaginary world of the computer, and reality. In reality, it has no implications and no connection to anyone around me. These were my first words when the investigator came to my house. I said to him, 'Listen, there is no connection to the real world, god forbid. It's a virtual mistake that I made."
Interrogator: "A mistake that can last 15 years?"
A.: "A mistake can last a long time. Just like people smoke cigarettes and it's a mistake ... Sometimes a person needs to be hit over the head with a hammer in order to understand the severity of his actions. And I can assure you unequivocally that it will stop. I will remove the computer from my house and I won't log on anymore or anything. Sometimes you need the hammer blow and the law to remind you that these things are forbidden."
At a certain point, the investigators tried to divine the motives for his actions.
Interrogator: "Is there some reason for this? Something in your childhood? A particular experience you went through?"
A.: "There was no traumatic incident in my childhood that led to this situation ... There is no event in my past of the type you are hinting at. Nothing."
Interrogator: "For 15 years you've been downloading child pornography movies and files. How can you convince me that this has no effect on you, that it doesn't excite you, that there are no fantasies? You work with children, you touch children, you examine them."
A.: "Just because people see a movie on the computer about rape doesn't mean they're going to go out and rape tomorrow - There is a world of movies and an imaginary world of computers. If every person who ever thought about murder actually committed murder, there wouldn't be enough room in the prisons ... There's a very big difference between the virtual world in which I erred and the real world where I have never and would never err [in this way]."
Deceptive anonymity
Under questioning, A. repeatedly spoke of a separation between the worlds of fantasy and reality. But even when consumption of hardcore child pornography is meant solely to satisfy fantasies, it still raises serious questions. Consumers of child pornography are the final link in a chain that starts with a cruel and violent industry located mainly in Eastern Europe (but also in the United States, South America and China ). Behind it are international crime networks that do not shy from serious violence against children, kidnapping, drugging, rape and sometimes even murder. This industry turns over $3-5 billion per year.
"This material is produced in places where the rule of law is weak," says Dr. Nimrod Kozlovski of Tel Aviv University, an expert on cyber crime. "In recent years we've learned that this industry typically exploits the same children over and over again to create as much content as possible. In America, they once tried to locate a girl who was exploited in one publication and they found that she had appeared in more than 2,000 films. The exploitation of these children is not a passing occurrence, but severe and total exploitation."
In the last few years, the Internet has changed the rules of the game and made prohibited materials much more easily available. According to Kozlovski, the manner in which A. obtained the child pornography found on his computer is the most common. "These are file-sharing programs in which the condition for participation is prior approval of the user. It creates a group of entrants over which you have control, in order to prevent the entry of law enforcement authorities and identification of the users. The programs are also careful to preserve the user's anonymity."
The law in Israel does distinguish between the crime of possessing child pornography materials (subject to a penalty of up to one year in prison ) and the crime of publishing such material (up to five years ), but it does not ban viewing them. "There is criticism of the law," says Kozlovski, "because before the Internet era, anyone who kept such material was committing the crime of unlawful possession. Today, in the Internet age, I can watch such material on some Web site without committing the crime of possession, even though there is no substantial difference."
Kozlovski also points out that although the number of indictments for possession of obscene material involving minors has risen significantly in recent years, sentencing guidelines in Israel are still considered relatively lenient compared to the rest of the world. In the United States, for instance, the penalty can be up to 10 years in prison.
Criminologists divide the types of pictures or films that contain child pornography into various categories of severity. "There is the nudity category that does not include sexual activity," explains Dr. Yael Idisis, a clinical criminologist from Bar-Ilan University. "In this category we find people who collect pictures of children usually in bathing suits or underwear, where there was no sexual intention behind the original context in which the images were published. Sometimes these are pictures that have appeared in advertisements. We had a serious pedophile in prison who collected pictures of children in diapers from diaper ads because it sexually aroused him. The next category is collecting pictures of totally nude children in erotic poses. The next category involves sexual activity between children, contact or masturbation. And the most serious categories involve pictures of sexual activity without penetration between adult and child, and then sexual activity that includes penetration between adult and child. The final category is sadism. That exists, too."
Are there statistics about the correlation between people who look at such pictures and films and those who commit sexual crimes?
"Different studies show different things. Most of the studies show that about a third of those who watch child pornography sought contact with children. From clinical experience, we see that people who committed sex crimes and hurt children tended to watch child pornography over the years. Not everyone who watches it eventually goes out and hurts children. But he does hurt children just by being part of the industry."
The Health Ministry committee that examined the issue of Dr. A.'s continued employment tried to find the balance between the suspicions attributed to him and his past and professional accomplishments. This was its concluding recommendation: "The acts attributed to him in the indictment raise a fear for the well-being of the children who come to him for treatment ... On the other hand ... we must be cognizant that any restriction of the doctor's fields of work, even for a limited time, could harm his basic rights, his dignity and his reputation."
The committee's recommendation, as noted earlier, was to permit him to continue working for the next six months with the requirement that a parent or a nurse from the medical staff be present in the examination room with the patient.
Two weeks ago, with the help of his lawyer, Sharon Nahari, A. won another battle - to keep his name out of the press for the time being. Now he is awaiting the evidentiary hearing that is due to be held close to a year from now (when there will also be a hearing on renewing the gag order ). A. told his interrogators that he was willing to have therapy and remove the computer from his home. "I hope, he said this week with a little optimism, "that this whole thing will end well."
In the financial world, too
Three years ago, there was shock in financial circles when Yaron Polak, a senior executive, was convicted of possessing obscene material, including child pornography. Polak had held a number of senior positions and is remembered primarily as CEO of Ness Technologies. In November 2007, he was convicted after admitting to possession of the obscene material, after hundreds of pornographic pictures and videos involving minors were seized from his home.
The Kfar Sava Magistrate’s Court convicted Polak and sentenced him to eight months probation. “The conviction in this case sends an important message of social denunciation of and revulsion at these acts,” Judge Hanoch Feder wrote in the verdict. “The public interest cannot tolerate an avoidance of conviction.” The judge added that this was not a one-time slipup but a crime that took place over a long period of time.
Polak appealed to the District Court, seeking to have the conviction overturned. He argued that he was dismissed from all his positions in the management of investment funds, and that the career he had built had been destroyed (Genesis Partners, in which he was a partner and director, ousted him just a few hours after his conviction). However, Tel Aviv District Court judges Avraham Tal, Zacharia Caspi and Binyamin Arnon let the conviction stand, saying “A civilized society that places the utmost importance on protecting minors from such terrible acts must condemn those acts.”
An overly broad interpretation of the law?
A.’s lawyer, Sharon Nahari, was surprised by the decision to charge his client with the publication of obscene material. “He did not disseminate anything, not in chats or in e-mails. To [say that] by leaving the computer on he could cause others in the file-sharing program to download that pornographic content from his computer is very far from the legislative intent behind the definition of ‘dissemination of obscene material.’” Nahari says the doctor’s reputation has been grievously harmed. “Yes, everyone is equal before the law,” he says, ‘but the damage that has been done thus far to the doctor, by virtue of the filing of the indictment, also for offenses that are not justified, does not balance the public interest with the legislative intent.”