Broward pediatrician had sexual photos of daughters’ friends and child porn, cops say
A longtime Broward pediatrician was arrested Tuesday on charges of having and sending child pornography, Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies say. Parkland resident Dr. Michael Mizrachy, 49, has been charged with two counts of possession of sexual performance by a child and one count of using a computer to solicit, lure or seduce a child to commit an illegal act. Mizrachy has entered not guilty pleas to all charges.
As of Wednesday, online records say Mizrachy was in BSO Main Jail and had yet to post $30,000 bond.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office received a tip in June 2020 that led detectives to Mizrachy, who, according to records, has been a licensed physician for 20 years. The tip enabled them to get a search warrant. Detectives with the department’s Internet Crimes Against Children found a video showing child pornography — which was described in the tip. The video, BSO said, involved a man raping an 8- to 10-yearold child. BSO did not indicate where detectives found the video.
Detectives also found several photos that showed “what appear to be young children in their bathing suits, underwear or shorts in which none of the children appear to be aware the photos were being taken,” BSO said in a news release.
BSO said the photographs allowed detectives to get an additional search warrant in October for Mizrachy’s home in Parkland.
During the search, detectives found that Mizrachy used Kik, a messaging app that often shows up in child pornography cases, to chat with a 15-year-old at the time. “The chats included sexually explicit photographs that were shared from the child,” BSO said in the release.
“Further investigation revealed that the other images of the children located within Mizrachy’s accounts were of his daughters’ friends at his residence,” BSO said. “These images included the children’s clothed private parts.” The children appeared to be between 10 and 15, BSO said.
Broward County court records show Mizrachy’s wife filed for divorce in November and that the marriage settlement agreement was filed with the court Monday. She is asking for custody of their child or children.
Florida Department of Health records show Mizrachy has worked in Broward Health Medical Center, Plantation General Hospital and Memorial Hospital
West. The primary practice address on his license was his Parkland home, which Mizrachy jointly owned with his now ex-wife before quit claim deeding it to her in December, according to county property records.
His professional address that comes up in a Google search is that of West Broward Pediatrics’ Plantation office. “We are shocked and deeply disturbed by these accusations,” an emailed statement from West Broward Pediatrics said.
“Dr. Mizrachy’s employment was terminated last year and he is no longer associated with our practice,” the statement continued. “We have no evidence that any crimes were committed in the course of his professional duties. We have been in close communication with our patient families, referral sources and others to reaffirm our absolute commitment to the health and well being of our patients.”
A spokeswoman with Memorial Healthcare System said Tuesday night that Mizrachy is not an employee of Memorial and does not have offices in the system’s hospitals.
Jennifer Smith, associate vice president of corporate communications for Broward Health, said Mizrachy isn’t an employee of the hospital network. “We have taken immediate action to revoke all privileges with our system,” she added. “Our heart goes out to all those affected.”
A Plantation General spokesperson said he resigned earlier this month and no longer has staff privileges there.
Mizrachy has no disciplinary actions or public complaints on his state medical license, state records show.