A 69-year old orthopedic surgeon who investigators said went to extraordinary lengths — including buying houses to gain access to families of children he is accused of molesting — was arrested Tuesday, accused of sexually abusing at least four boys as young as 4.
After uncovering dozens of binders stuffed with pictures of children and news articles about kidnapping and child brutality, investigators said Bernard Zacharia Albina was one of the smartest, most obsessed pedophiles they had seen, masking himself as a doting grandfather figure.
“All the time he spent cutting out pictures of little kids, articles about rapes, murders and brutal deaths and information that would help him ingratiate himself with his victims and any future victims, that's a lot of research,” said Houston police officer J.T. Roscoe, a juvenile division investigator. “He was very friendly, very kind, a sweet, old man. He would be the ideal grandfather, for the role he played.”
Albina was charged with five counts of sexual abuse charges, including continuous sexual abuse of a child, sexual assault of a child and promotion of child pornography, Harris County Assistant District Attorney Eric Devlin said.
Authorities announced Albina's arrest Tuesday in an effort to find more victims. Roscoe said he suspects that some of Albina's former patients may have been abused, but federal privacy laws make it difficult to investigate.
Devlin said Albina used his money and position to develop close relationships with his victims' families to get access to the children, who are now adults or teens, including the purchase of houses where he let them live for free. Devlin accused Albina of spending more than $250,000 in his ploys.
He said police executed search warrants of the doctor's home and two offices two weeks ago, wrapping up a two-year Houston Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force investigation, and found hundreds of hours of videotape of Albina with children.
“The officers are working 70 to 80 hours a week just to figure out everything we seized,” Devlin said.
“The officers are working 70 to 80 hours a week just to figure out everything we seized,” Devlin said.
Investigators said a victim came forward in January 2007, and said he had been sexually abused by Albina from the age of 5 until he was an adult. He said Albina paid him and gave him gifts during those years.
The man said he was assaulted at one of Albina's offices, in the 2100 block of Crawford, which led investigators to search two offices and his home. Police seized two minivans full of evidence, including financial records, digital video tapes, DVDs and computer equipment.
Roscoe said police suspect Albina of videotaping his relations with children for decades, after finding beta videotapes, a format replaced by VHS in the 1980s.
Albina remains jailed in lieu of $400,000 bail. Court records do not show an attorney of record for him.
State medical records show that Albina attended medical school in Jerusalem and Beirut. He has practiced in the U.S. for 36 years, and lists his medical practice at St. Joseph's Medical Center.
St. Joseph's Medical Center released a statement Tuesday that Albina had not been active there since June 1, 2008.
His medical staff privileges at St. Joseph Medical Center were suspended pending further investigation after hospital officials learned of Tuesday's arrest.
Albina shared a $1 million home with his wife in the 11100 block of South Country Squire Road. No one answered the door when a reporter knocked Tuesday afternoon.
Police said Albina's wife was not a target in the investigation.
One neighbor described the couple as “the sweetest on the block” and all said they were shocked to hear the news. “They brought us a cake when we first moved in,” said Krista Dumas, a next-door neighbor.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment