A pediatric doctor in Boston has been arrested on allegations that he distributed child sexual abuse material.
Federal prosecutors said Friday that 35-year-old Christopher Sheerer, who began a fellowship in cardiac anesthesiology this month at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, was taken into custody after a search at his Boston home Thursday night. He is charged with one count each of distribution of child pornography and possession of child pornography.
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Sheerer was previously a fellow at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, where the federal investigation began, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for Massachusetts. He told investigators at the time of his arrest he has been in Boston for about three weeks.
Using an encrypted messaging app, Sheerer allegedly joined a group "that required users to upload nude imagery of children known to them." Prosecutors say he did so to gain admission.
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He allegedly claimed in the group to be the father of a 5-year-old girl and uploaded nude images of a young girl with a card visible showing the group's name. Investigators determined Sheerer and his ex-wife have a daughter who was born in 2018.
Photos showing Sheerer's previous home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, are consistent with the bathroom floor seen in the images, investigators said.
A selfie showing Sheerer wearing scrubs and a Johns Hopkins lanyard appeared on a Google account found by investigators in Maryland looking into the group.
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When authorities searched his home Wednesday, they found multiple chats on Sheerer's phone, "several of which allegedly contained pictures and videos appearing to be child pornography involving children as young as infants," the office of Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said.
A forensic review found that on July 1, the same day he started his fellowship in Boston, Sheerer allegedly distributed three pictures and 15 videos containing child sexual abuse material in a one-on-one chat, according to court documents.
If convicted, Sheerer would face five to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 for each charge against him.
It was not immediately clear if Sheerer had an attorney who could answer to the charges against him.
