Child Pornography Suspect Will Stay In Jail Federal Judge Blocks Release Of Doctor Accused Of Planning To Have Sex With 8-Year-Old After More Pictures Found On Computer
A doctor accused of child pornography is in jail without bond after a federal judge heard that death-torture and child-bondage pictures were found on the suspect’s computer.
Dr. Barry Kottler of Crownpoint, N.M., will be held in jail until he stands trial, U.S. District Judge Frem Nielsen of Spokane ruled Friday.
Judges consider a suspect’s flight risk and potential danger to the community in deciding whether someone accused of federal crimes should be released before trial.
“This defendant must be considered to be dangerous,” Nielsen said after an hour-long hearing.
Assistant U.S. attorneys Tom Rice and Earl Hicks asked Nielsen to overrule a U.S. magistrate who had decided to release Kottler from jail with conditions.
While Kottler is presumed innocent, the judge said there are instances where pretrial detention “is appropriate for the needs of and protection of society.”
Nielsen ruled after U.S.
Customs agent Marcus Lawson testified that 30 to 40 additional computer images have been found on Kottler’s home computer, seized in New Mexico.
One photo shows a nude woman impaled on a pole, Lawson testified.
Other images show teenagers involved in oral and anal sex, and younger children involved in oral sex and bondage, Lawson testified.
Computer experts are continuing a painstaking scientific examination of Kottler’s home computer.
They also are processing other suspected child pornography files found on his computer at the Crownpoint Healthcare hospital, where he started work last fall.
In ordering Kottler to remain jailed, the senior federal judge overruled U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrogno.
She decided a week earlier that the 30-year-old physician could be released to the custody of his wealthy parents who live near Boston.
Kottler, who works for the Navajo Area Indian Health Service, was arrested Feb. 6 after he flew to Spokane from Albuquerque.
Court documents accuse the family-practice doctor of intending to photograph and have sex with an 8-year-old girl who he thought was waiting for him in a motel room.
The fictional child’s mother was really an undercover police officer, working with investigator Lawson.
The agent earlier received 23 child-pornography images from Kottler sent by e-mail after the two struck up a conversation in an Internet chat room where adult-child sex is discussed.
Kottler is charged with computer transmission of child pornography. He also is charged with aggravated sexual abuse, related to his alleged plans to have sex with and photograph a child.
Additional charges could come when the case is presented to a federal grand jury, possibly as early as next week.
Defense attorneys Mark Vovos and Carl Oreskovich convinced Imbrogno on Feb. 13 that Kottler should be allowed to return to his father’s home in Concord, Mass., near Boston.
Herbert Kottler, assistant director of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology physics laboratory, said he would provide round-the-clock supervision of his son.
A court pretrial release officer recommended the release, accompanied by electronic home monitoring.
Psychologist Mark Mays, hired by the defense attorneys, testified that he performed a psychological profile test on Kottler and determined he isn’t mentally ill.
Mays also said he believes the doctor can control his impulses, particularly under restricted-living conditions.
Hicks, outlining details of the federal case, asked Mays if he was aware of the details surrounding Kottler’s arrest, including plans to have sex with the 8-year-old.
Mays said he didn’t know details when he tested Kottler.
The psychologist also conceded that going from reading pornography to disseminating computer images to planning a sexual encounter shows a progression.
“Yes, it certainly raises questions of dangerousness,” Mays said under questioning by Hicks.
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