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

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