Judge keeps pediatrician jailed
Federal prosecution says doctor has ‘sexual appetite for children’
Federal prosecutors argued this week that freeing a Broward pediatrician charged with possessing child pornography would be far too great a risk — and the court agreed.
Framing its case against Dr. Michael Mizrachy as “extremely strong,” the government’s lawyers warned he could easily scope out victims in person or online to satisfy a “sexual appetite for children,” if he’s allowed out of Broward County Jail.
U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon on Wednesday agreed with a previous finding by a different judge that Mizrachy must remain locked up before his trial starts June 21 because “no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the safety of others and the community.”
Mizrachy, 49, faces a single federal count punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. And he continues to face three child porn charges in Broward Circuit Court, all resulting from the same investigation, records show.
At the same time, Mizrachy continues to be fully licensed by the state of Florida to practice medicine and write prescriptions, online health department records indicate. His case has prompted proposed state legislation to make it easier to seek emergency suspensions on doctors facing serious criminal charges.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brooke Latta on Tuesday noted that after Mizrachy’s initial arrest Jan. 12, he continued to express an interest in treating children through a telemedicine service. The prosecutor also noted that Mizrachy, who confessed to hiding a stash of child porn, worked two decades as a doctor treating young patients and was “a literal expert in the anatomy of a child’s body.”
“Even if he were to find other employment, the defendant has spent his life as a pediatrician — a profession for which he is, it is now clear, ill-suited,” Latta said.
Richard Merlino, Mizrachy’s lawyer, had pleaded for Judge Cannon to grant his appeal for bond and let Mizrachy await trial from a Boca Raton apartment. Merlino insisted Mizrachy is neither dangerous nor a flight risk.
The defense wrote that there was no connection between Mizrachy’s former work at West Broward Pediatrics and the allegations. He noted how detectives “found no allegation that Mizrachy had acted physically inappropri
ate with any minor in his circle of contact.
Instead, Mizrachy allegedly possessed pornographic images and communications, in which he was not involved or featured.”
Merlino also pointed out that his client, recently divorced from his wife of 23 years, had no prior criminal history, or complaints or discipline as a doctor. He said Mizrachy still has close ties to the Broward community and wants to remain here “to defend the charges against him and appear in his own defense.”
But the prosecutor said the evidence in the case shows that Mizrachy simply can’t be trusted, in part because he kept treating children despite being sexually aroused by them.
Mizrachy “reaped the benefits of physically examining and touching the very children brought to him in his capacity as a pediatrician,” Latta wrote.
Explaining the allegations, the prosecutor said Mizrachy “was found in possession of a video depicting a 5-6 year old female child being raped” and initially lied about the contents.
A search also found that Mizrachy had more than a dozen photos of children in underwear and bathing suits, focusing on their genital areas. Latta said the doctor also admitted to using a smartphone app “to have direct sexual communications with minors” and that he was “sexually attracted to children as young as 13 years old.”
“Simply put, the Defendant is a compelling danger to the community,” Latta wrote.
The prosecution also warned the Fort Piercebased judge that it wouldn’t be a good idea to let Mizrachy spend his days at an apartment complex, even on house arrest.
The concern is over “what children may be playing in the stairwell encountering the defendant; who the defendant invites into his apartment; or what the defendant will be doing while he is watching other children playing in the complex’s pool.”