A prominent D.C. doctor pleaded guilty to a federal charge of possession of child pornography Thursday.
“It is unthinkable that someone whose profession involved caring for children, would exploit children,” D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said.
In May, the FBI raided Dr. Robert Paul Dickey's office on 38th Street SE. Agents say the 74-year-old pediatrician was watching child pornography when they stormed in to search his home and office.
Authorities seized multiple electronic devices from Dickey's home and office, including a desktop computer and an additional hard drive that contained images of child pornography and child erotica.
“Dr. Dickey was entrusted to care for our most precious resource, our children, but today he admitted to violating that trust by uploading child pornography to a shared website,” FBI Washington Field Office Assistant Director Valerie Parlave said.
Authorities said there's no indication the images involved his patients.
Dickey admitted to law enforcement agents that he has visited child pornography sites, downloaded child pornography and stored it on an external hard drive, the police documents say.
The investigation began in April when Microsoft alerted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that someone with a Microsoft Outlook email address and the user name Robert Dickey uploaded about 14 images of child pornography, authorities said.
“Dr. Dickey was entrusted to care for the well-being of children, but he instead chose to collect images of their sexual exploitation,” said U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen.
Dickey faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine at sentencing in December. He will be required to register as a sex offender for 15 years after his release from prison.
