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OPERATION PREDATOR
Doctor's porn case part of global effort
Already, Troy pediatrician Robert Reinhold has lost clients as word of his case begins to spread.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Related stories:
- Area pediatrician arrested in child porn investigation
- Case part of global effort
- If your children are patients of Dr. Reinhold and you are willing to speak with us about the case, send us an e-mail with your contact information
TROY — Catherine Peoples, 34, of Troy is a mother of four with a fifth child on the way who has taken her children to pediatrician Robert Reinhold for seven years.
She said that in light of the doctor's arrest Wednesday on charges of possessing child pornography, she'll be taking her children to another pediatrician.
Extras
Peoples said she learned of the arrest while reading news stories on the Web.
"He gave good care to children," she said. "I've always been in the room with my kids" when they visited, she noted. "The thought is really upsetting. It's really a shock. I would not have suspected this."
It was quiet Wednesday evening at Reinhold's closed medical offices, Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, on South Stanfield Road. Hours earlier, special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided those offices, as well as Reinhold's residence, agency spokesman Greg Palmore said.
Reinhold was taken into custody after agents said they found concealed in a desk, "19 manila folders containing more than 1,700 images on 8-by-11-inch paper, depicting minors in various stages of undress. Many of the images depicted minors engaging in lascivious displays or engaging in acts of sexual activity," Palmore said.
A detention hearing for Reinhold has been scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday in U.S. District Court in Dayton, Palmore said.
At the hearing, a judge could decide whether Reinhold, 55, remains in custody or will be released in lieu of bond. The judge could also set conditions for release.
Meantime, Palmore said investigators with the agency known as ICE "are in the preliminary stages and the investigation is continuing for us."
Reached at her home Wednesday evening, Amy Reinhold said she could not comment about her husband's arrest.
According to the Web site of his business, Reinhold received his undergraduate degree from St. Lawrence University and attended medical school at the University of Cincinnati.
According to the Ohio License Center Web site, Robert Vancourt Reinhold graduated from UC's college of medicine in June 1978 and was licensed in Ohio to practice medicine in March 1980.
He had his residency at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, according to the Web site.
Palmore said Operation Predator, which prompted the Reinhold arrest, also includes those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal immigrant sex offenders, and child sex traffickers.
Since the operation was launched in July 2003, ICE agents have arrested more than 10,000 individuals, including more than 110 in Ohio.
ICE, the largest investigative division of the Department of Homeland Security, has captured some area residents in its various investigatory operations.
• In April 2005, a Franklin man was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of pandering obscenity involving children depicted in 179 digital images found on his computer.
The prosecution of David Kinnison in Warren County was an upshot of Operation Falcon — a worldwide investigation of child pornography by federal authorities.
• In July 2006, Kempo Karate instructor Eric Moser, 54, of Dayton was sentenced in federal court to more than five years in prison for possessing child pornography.
ICE agents executed a search warrant at Moser's residence in February 2005 after receiving information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding the trading of child pornography by computer.
The search warrant and subsequent forensic analysis of his computer revealed more than 2,100 images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, mixed in with adult pornography.
• In June of this year, Gary M. Black, 52, of Beavercreek was sentenced to 17 years and five months in federal prison after pleading guilty to exploitation of a minor before U.S. District Court Judge Walter H. Rice.
That Operation Predator investigation began in February 2006 after ICE received information that Black was placing pornographic images of children on the Internet.
ICE, in a statement, said the public can report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hot line: 1-866-DHS-2ICE. The hot line is staffed around the clock.
ICE also said suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a partner of Operation Predator, at 1-800-843-5678 or on the Web at http://www.cybertipline.com.
Staff Writer Doug Page contributed to this report. Contact Steve Bennish at (937) 225-7407 or sbennish@DaytonDailyNews.com.
