Police Charge Winnipeg Child Psych Gary Shady with Possession of Child Porn

A Winnipeg child psychologist who works with kids and trains medical students has been charged with possession of child pornography.

Winnipeg police announced Thursday they had laid the charge against Gary Anthony Shady, 72.

Looks kinda Shady to me…

The charge comes after police allege child sexual abuse imagery was uploaded to an online storage and computing service. The provider notified the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the United States, who contacted their Canadian counterparts and Winnipeg police who began investigating in early October.

Officers arrested Shady on Wednesday at a Fort Rouge home and allege they found an electronic device displaying child sexual abuse images in the home. “At this time it’s not immediately clear where these images are from. Certainly, they’re concerning,” said Winnipeg police spokesperson Const. Jay Murray.

Shady is a Winnipeg Regional Health Authority employee and has patients at the Manitoba Adolescent Treatment Centre and Health Sciences Centre, said WRHA spokesperson Amy McGuinness.

Placed on leave at the WRHA

McGuinness said Shady’s work primarily involves children, youth, young adults and families. She said after the WRHA learned about the charge, health officials placed him on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation.

“Staff at both HSC and MATC will be reaching out to Dr. Shady’s current patients and their families in the coming days to provide support and information on plans to transition their care to other clinicians,” McGuinness said, adding the WRHA is actively co-operating with police in their investigation.

Police allege Gary Anthony Shady uploaded child sexual abuse images to an online storage service. (Instagram)

University of Manitoba spokesperson John Danakas said Shady provided clinical training to medical students at a clinic/ treatment centre off-campus this year and gave at least one two-hour on-campus session.

Murray said after officers executed their search, they seized other devices which detectives are now searching through. He said their work could take months.”There’s a lot of investigation that goes forward. You can imagine, even just thinking of your own computers at home, how much data is on them, so investigators now have to go through that information with a fine tooth comb and see if any other images are located.”

Dr. Alan Slusky, registrar for the Psychological Association of Manitoba, said while he was unable to comment on this case specifically, registered psychologists in Manitoba are obliged to conduct themselves in accordance with a detailed code of ethics and professional standards.

“We are taking this matter very seriously and given the recency of this news we are gathering information as quickly as we can,” he said in an email.

Tourette Canada responded, saying they were “shocked” to learn of the allegations. The organization said Shady did not work for it but at one time was an advisor for its Winnipeg Chapter.

The organization said effective immediately Shady has no involvement with its Winnipeg chapter.

Shady couldn’t be reached for comment on Thursday.

Source: “Winnipeg child psychologist arrested in child porn bust,” CBC News, October 11, 2018, URL: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/child-porn-images-arrest-doctor-1.4858633

VA Psychiatrist Domingo Cerra-Fernandez Suspended for Patient Sex

On October 3, 2018, the New York State Department of Health’s Board for Professional Medical Conduct (“NY Board”) issued a Consent Order suspending the license of psychiatirst Domingo Cerra-Fernandez for two years and stayed the entire suspension. The NY Board also fined him $2,500.

Cerra Fernandez

The Board’s document states that this action was taken in response to a disciplinary action that The Florida Medical Board (“FL Board”) took against Cerra-Fernandez. On September 27, 2017, the FL Board suspended Cerra-Fernandez for six months for having engaged in sexual misconduct with a patient. The FL Board also imposed upon him an administrative fine of $20,000 and ordered him to reimburse its investigative costs of $9,959.89.

According to the FL Board’s documents, Cerra-Fernandez, who works at the Veteran’s Administration’s Ocallaghan VA Outpatient Clinic in Ocala, treated patient “M.W.” from 2002 to April 2012 for depression, anxiety, anorexia, bulimia, and other issues. In or around October 2011, he requested that he and M.W. start a romantic relationship, and she agreed. Between October 2011 and April 2012, Cerra-Fernandez and M.W. dated and had inappropriate contact by email, text, and telephone.

In October 2011, Cerra-Fernandez requested that M.W. inform his office that she did not want to be treated by him anymore. His patient records indicate on October 20, 2011, that M.W. was going to find another physician in her healthcare network, and she was requesting that Cerra-Fernandez write her prescriptions for thirty days.

However, they did not follow Cerra-Fernandez’s plan. Rather, he continued to treat M.W. from October 2011 through April 2012, while also maintaining a romantic relationship with her.

The FL Board determined that Cerra-Fernandez “used his professional physician-patient relationship as treating psychiatrist to engage or attempt to engage in, or to induce or attempted to induce the patient to engage in, verbal or physical sexual activity outside the scope of the professional practice of medicine.”

Source: Consent Order in the Matter of Domingo Cerra-Fernandez, M.D., BPMC NO. 18-217, New York State Dept. of Health, October 3, 2018 and Final Order, Dept. of Health vs. Domingo Cerra-Fernandez, M.D., DOH Case No. 2015-27897, License No. ME0040308, State of Florida Board of Medicine, February 28, 2018.

Nebraska Psychologist Amy Chatelain Loses License for Sex with Patient

On August 30, 2018, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services revoked the license of psychologist Amy L. Chatelain for two years.

According to the Board’s documents, Chatelain engaged in sexual intercourse with one of her psychotherapy patients. Specifically, the Board’s Petition states that shebegan providing care to “Client A” in May 2016 for depression and suicidal ideation. The therapeutic relationship then ended on August 30, 2017. Chatelain advised a Department Investigator that her relationship with the patient progressed to a “friendship” between August and September 2017.

NE psychologist Amy Chatelain

In September 2017, the patient contacted Chatelain and requested to resume therapy, which she provided between September 21 and 25. Chatelain admitted to having sexual intercourse with the patient approximately five to seven times between November 2017 and January 2018.

Chatelain remained in contact with the patient when he entered inpatient treatment, during which time she advised him to delete evidence of their relationship from his phone, computer, and online accounts.

Source: Order on Agreed Settlement, Agreed Settlement, and Petition for Disciplinary Action, State of Nebraska ex rel. Douglas J. Peterson, Attorney General vs. Amy Chatelain, 181368 PSY, State of Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, August 30, 2018.

After First Counseling Session with Psychologist Michael Doyle, College Student Discovers His History of Sexual Misconduct

A Memorial University (MUN) student says others have a right to know that a psychologist working at the school’s counselling centre was once suspended for sexual misconduct.

“I just want community awareness. I want people to know who he is and what he’s done,” said Eve Naji, a second-year student at the university’s St. John’s campus.

Naji said she booked an appointment at MUN’s Student Wellness and Counselling Centre for help coping with anxiety.

The MUN Student Wellness and Counselling Centre sits on the 5th Floor of the University Centre. (CBC)

She said she had a 30-minute session with Michael Doyle, a psychologist at the centre and professor at the university. The appointment took place in a private room, with the door closed, and she said she emerged feeling positive about the experience.

“I felt really good about the appointment, because he was very professional and nice. So I thought that I was going to get the help that I need,” she said.

But that changed when she Googled him, she said.

Told student he wished he could be her ‘bed buddy’

The first result that came up was a CBC News article from 2009, detailing a Newfoundland and Labrador Psychology Board (NLPB) tribunal report.

The report said Doyle pleaded guilty to professional misconduct at a board tribunal and admitted wrongdoing with a female student in his care between 2001 and 2005 while working at the university’s counselling centre.

Suspended psychologist asked to be patient’s ‘bed buddy,’ report shows

The tribunal found that Doyle had inappropriately touched the patient and refused to end contact with her when she halted therapy.

He also told the student he wished he could be her “bed buddy” and viewed “erotic material” with her, the report said.

The NLPB suspended Doyle from practicing for four months.

Doyle sought treatment from both a psychiatrist and a psychologist, the report said.

‘I felt lied to and betrayed’

As Naji read the article, she said she was “furious.”

“I felt lied to and I felt betrayed,” she said.

“I thought that people … had the right to know because I didn’t know, and I just spent 30 minutes alone in a room with him, by myself, not knowing who he was or what he had done.”

“There’s no way I’m going back to him or to the Wellness Centre.”

– Eve Naji

She said MUN has an obligation to let students know about Doyle’s past before they accept appointments with him, and she posted about her experience at the centre and about Doyle’s past on social media.

“Students have the right to know of who he is and what he has done. If MUN doesn’t want to say it, then I will.”

Registered psychologist

Sean Cadigan, MUN’s associate academic vice-president, issued a statement Friday saying that after the tribunal decision, the university signed a memorandum of understanding with the faculty association outlining sanctions against Doyle.

Naji says she wants to create awareness for the rest of the MUN community. (CBC)

Once the stipulations of the MOU were completed, Doyle returned to his full duties as a psychologist for the university, the statement said.

Cadigan directed CBC News to the Newfoundland and Labrador Psychology Board, saying Doyle is a registered psychologist with the province.

“The [NLPB] regulates the practice of psychologists in the province and has investigative and disciplinary capacity,” his statement read.

“Anyone with a concern about a registered psychologist can make a complaint to the board.”

CBC News asked the NLPB for comment and the board said it had forwarded the request to its lawyers.

As for Naji, she said she’ll be looking elsewhere for help with her anxiety.

“There’s no way I’m going back to him or to the wellness centre.”

Source: “Psychologist’s past sexual misconduct should be disclosed, says MUN student,” CBC News, October 6, 2018, URL: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/mun-psychologist-sexual-misconduct-past-1.4853078

Danish Psychiatrist Kim Eisenreich, 3rd Conviction for Patient Sex — Prison and Loses License

(Translated from Danish)

For years now, 52-year-old psychiatrist Kim Eisenreich used a former patient’s mental illness to have sex with her.

A court in Glostrup convicted him Friday, and sentenced him to imprisonment for 15 months.

Psychiatrist Kim Eisenreich (aka Jorgen Holtz)

This is the third time that the psychiatrist has been convicted for engaging in sex with vulnerable patients.

In 2011, he was sentenced to one year in prison in Norway for sexually abusing a female patient while practicing under his former name, Kim Jørgen Holtz.

And in April 2017, he received a new sentenced of three months in Aarhus (second largest city in Denmark) for abuse of his position in order to have had sex with a patient over a 10-month period.

The punishment from Aarhus, confirmed by the Vestre Landsret, came on Friday in the current verdict, because the perpetrators in the two cases overlapped each other.

Therefore, the court in Glostrup judged a total sentence of 15 months in prison. The judge had Eisenreich taken into custody immediately after the sentence was read.

The court in Glostrup found that during a five-year period (2011-2016), Eisenreich  took advantage of a now 55-year-old woman’s mental illness for sex.

According to the accusation, Eisenreich had in many cases acquired sexual intercourse and other sexual relations with the woman in different places.

“To exploit a person’s mental illness for a sexual relationship is very serious and fortunately also very unusual. I am very pleased that the court has chosen to follow the prosecutor in this case,” said senior prosecutor Peter Rask.

Eisenreich explained in court that it was a love relationship, but the woman had a different view, explaining that she felt like a robot that mechanically followed the wishes of the psychiatrist. And the court has largely chosen to accept her testimony for the verdict.

Danish law prohibits anyone from exploiting the frailty of retarded and mentally ill to obtain sex. The fact that Eisenberg was the woman’s psychiatrist was not necessarily material to the case.

“The insanity and the mentally retarded, they need society’s protection,” it said, among other things, from prosecutor Peter Rask at Friday’s hearing.

The National Board of Health has today deprived him of his authorization as a doctor.

Source: “Psykiater sex-domt for rredge gang,” B.T., September 21, 2018, URL: https://www.bt.dk/krimi/psykiater-sex-doemt-for-tredje-gang

School Psychiatrist Sex Case Settled for $80 Million

On September 13, 2018, a state judge officially approved an $80 million settlement between Kamehameha Schools and dozens of former students who were sexually assaulted decades ago.

Probate Judge Mark Browning approved the deal Friday afternoon, which will trigger the first payments to the victims in the next two weeks.

Psychiatrist Robert Brown

“It’s in the best interest of Kamehameha Schools, the Bishop Estate Trust to have this ended and there needs to be closure for these victims,” Browning said, during a hearing on Sept. 13.

More than 30 victims, many of them now in their 50s and 60s, sued the school and St. Francis Medical Center, saying they were sexually molested by former St. Francis psychiatrist Robert Browne decades ago.

Browne, who committed suicide in 1991, was the head of psychiatry at the hospital.

St. Francis now is appealing the settlement, which could take years to resolve.

But in court documents, Kamehameha Schools’ trustees called the appeal a delay tactic.

“The effect of Saint Francis’ appeal is to threaten

to delay … the distribution of settlement proceeds,” wrote Kamehameha Schools attorney Crystal Rose.

“This not acceptable to the trustees.”

Under the settlement, the victims will share $65 million in the first year, minus legal fees. The rest will be paid out over the next two years.

Source: “Judge approved $80M in Kamehameha School sex abuse settlement,” Hawaii News Now, September 24, 2018, URL: http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/39163145/judge-approves-80m-kamehameha-schools-sex-abuse-settlement/

Psychiatrist Surendra Johri to Face Second Sex Abuse Trial

The New Hartford psychiatrist accused of sexually abusing several patients will face another trial in December.

In two separate cases, Dr. Surendra Johri is charged with third-degree sexual abuse and forcible touching after he allegedly sexually touched two patients while he was working as a psychiatrist at Community Health Behavioral Services in Utica.

In connection to one of the patients, Johri is charged with one count each of sexual abuse and forcible touching, and in connection to the second patient, Johri is charged with two counts of each charge.

Johri will face a trial beginning on Dec. 10 in Utica City Court.

The judge granted the prosecution’s motion to consolidate the two separate cases with two separate victims into one trial in court on Friday.

Johri chose a bench trial, which means that a judge rather than jury will decide his fate.

The judge overseeing the trial is the same judge who acquitted Johri of sexual abuse charges back in June.

Source: “Psychiatrist accused of sexually abusing patients to face another trial,” CNYCentral.com, URL: https://cnycentral.com/news/local/psychiatrist-accused-of-sexually-abusing-patients-to-face-another-trial, September 14, 2018.

Psychiatrist Monissa Solberg Loses License for ‘Intimate Relationship’ with Patient

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Psychiatrist Monissa Solberg has agreed to voluntarily surrender her license to practice medicine in Rhode Island following a state Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline investigation that concluded that she “had an intimate relationship with an existing patient,” according to the Department of Health.

Under the terms of a consent order signed earlier this month by Solberg and Health Department director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, the psychiatrist has agreed to surrender her license no later than Nov. 6.

Solberg did not respond to attempts to reach her at Wellness Rhode Island, a psychiatry and counseling practice with offices at 334 Broadway, where she is listed as a practitioner.

The Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline began an investigation of Solberg after receiving a complaint from an unnamed person “who had knowledge of [her] having an intimate relationship with” a patient whom she had been treating after his release from a program for depression at Butler Hospital, according to the five-page consent order.

According to the order, Solberg denied that she had had an inappropriate relationship with the patient while she was treating him, and that she ceased treating him in May 2016.

She testified that the two went on a vacation to Iceland in November of that year and that he sprained his ankle while there. He received a prescription for an opioid medication while in Iceland, and ran out of the medication after returning to Rhode Island.

According to the order, Solberg told the board’s investigative committee that she then prescribed the man a 10-day supply of the medication and conducted a physical examination.

In addition to determining that Solberg had had an intimate relationship with an existing patient, the investigative committee determined that she did not properly document the care she gave the patient prior to providing him a prescription, and did not document educating the patient on the risks of opioids.

Source: “Providence psychiatrist surrenders license over ‘intimate relationship’ with patient,” The Providence Journal, Aug 30, 2018

Pennsylvania Psychologist Edward J. Michaels Convicted for Child Porn

On June 6, 2018, psychologist Edward J. Michaels pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and was sentenced to two years of probation.

Michaels, who was arrested by Allegheny County Police on or about May 24, 2017, was at the time the director of the University of Pittsburgh’s counseling center, a position he’d held for two years. He was placed on leave following the arrest. 

Police initially visited Michaels at his home in March 2017, after receiving a tip from a concerned person who had seen photographs of young girls there. The police found there photos of apparently prepubescent girls in sexually explicit poses. They seized two laptop computers, two USB memory sticks, and several hundred loose photographs, according to an affidavit in the case.

Michaels permanently surrendered his Pennsylvania psychologist’s license on August 22, 2017. He was licensed as well in Michigan, whose board of psychology suspended his license on July 27, 2018, and Illinois, which suspended it in December 2017, both relative to the surrender of his Pennsylvania license.

As a result of his conviction, Michaels was required to register as a sex offender in the state of Pennsylvania. The State Police’s Megan’s Law (sex offender) Public Report contains information on two offenses: possession of child pornography and sexual abuse of children.

Source: Court Summary, Michaels, Edward J., Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, Case CP-02-CR-0013082-2017; “Pitt counseling center director charged with possessing child porn,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 24, 2017; Consent Agreement and Order, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs vs. Edward Joseph Michaels, Ph.D., File No. 17-63-06111, August 22, 2017; Disciplinary Action Report, Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Bureau of Professional Licensing, Orders served from 7/23/2018 through 7/27/2018; Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, “Lookup Detail View” of Edward Joseph Michaels, accessed 8/23/2018; and Pennsylvania State Police Megan’s Law Report on Edward Joseph Michaels, created 8/30/2018.

Norwegian Government Seeks to Review Cases That Involved Psychiatrist Who Was Convicted for Child Porn

The Norwegian ministry in charge of children’s and equality issues is “evaluating” whether there’s reason to further review child protection cases that involved a psychiatrist who since has been convicted of possessing huge quantities of child pornography.

The leader of the state commission that appoints psychiatric experts to evaluate those involved in child welfare cases has already advised child protection agency Barnevernet to review cases in which the convicted psychiatrist was involved. Newspaper Aftenposten reported that Katrin Koch, who heads the commission known as Barnesakkyndig kommisjon, said it was “reasonable” to question whether his professional ability to assess cases of child welfare was influenced by “his private situation.”

Downloaded porn for more than 20 years

That “private situation” concerns his conviction earlier this year on charges that he had downloaded child pornography for more than 20 years. News service ABC Nyheter reported that police who raided his home in January last year found 205,536 computer files showing sexual assaults on children.

[Note: the details of this case are the same as that of Norwegian psychiatrist Jo Erik Broyn, who was convicted on April 23, 2018 and sentenced to one year and 10 months prison.]

“The case is large in terms of content, and contains photos and video of grave character,” Jens Johannes Andenæs, a prosecutor for the Oslo Police District, told ABC Nyheter. Police seized a total of 193,491 photos and 12,045 videos containing fully 4,064 hours of various assaults on children. Police also found eight printed publications featuring child porn and 94 photos printed on paper.

They all portrayed, according to court documents, sexual assaults against children, between children and against themselves. Norwegian police had raided the 56-year-old psychiatriat’s home after receiving tips from police in Switzerland that a Norwegian IP-address had been found on a computer service that facilitates sharing of child pornography.

State police unit Kripos “worked further on the case,” Andenæs said, and found that the psychiatrist was the user of the IP-address. He was widely viewed as a highly respected psychiatrist who was called upon as an expert to evaluate cases being handled by the child protection agency. In line with press practice in Norway, he has not been publicly identified.

State commission member

He was, however, a member of the commission itself that evaluated the work of other psychiatrists and child welfare workers at Barnevernet. He has admitted that at the same time, he was downloading huge amounts of photos and video of sexual assaults on children. He was suspended from his job as a doctor and psychiatrist, and from the commission, shortly after his arrest.

The case caught the attention of the British state broadcaster, BBC, which recently ran a documentary about it entitled “Norway’s Silent Scandal.” It noted how Norway’s child protection agency has been accused of taking children away from their parents without justification. The disputed cases often involved those where Barnevernet feels compelled to crack down on parents who spank or otherwise physically punish their chilren because such punishment is not allowed by law Norway. Barnevernet has been the target of massive international protests in cases involving parents who are involved in conservative international church movements.

The commission has already gone through the convicted psychiatrist’s record as an expert witness and found that his evaluations did not deviate from other commission members’ evaluations of the same cases. The commission has found only one case when he was used as a court-appointed psychiatrist since its founding in 2010.

Einar Salvesen, a specialist in psychology who contributed to the BBC report, told Aftenposten that he’s urging formation of a commission to go through the Barnevernet cases where the convicted psychiatrist was involved, also prior to 2010.

Source: “Convicted psychiatrist’s cases reviewed,” NewsInEnglish.no, URL: http://www.newsinenglish.no/2018/08/20/convicted-psychiatrists-cases-reviewed/, August 20, 2018.