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Former Boston Children’s Hospital doctor pleads guilty to child porn charges
Christopher Sheerer was a pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist fellow at the hospital.
A former pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital pleaded guilty Thursday to federal child porn charges, according to the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Christopher Sheerer, 37, of Boston, pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of child pornography, one count of possession of child pornography, and one count of sexual exploitation of children, a release said.
Sheerer was previously a fellow in the same field at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, authorities said. His sentencing is set for Dec. 18.
In May of 2024, authorities began an investigation into an online, encrypted chat application user who belonged to a group described as a place for “dads, uncles, and babysitters” to chat, share live material, and meet up.
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“The group required prospective members to verify their status as a male guardian or family member by uploading a nude photo of a child under 13 years old, next to a handwritten sign bearing the group’s name,” officials said. “The target user was subsequently identified as Sheerer, with an IP address tracing to Johns Hopkins University. Sheerer uploaded imagery of a child known to him to gain admission to that group.”
In a search of Sheerer’s residence in Boston, where he was arrested and charged in July 2024, multiple chats were discovered on his phone, several of which contained sexual abuse pictures and videos involving children as young as infants, according to the release.
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Authorities seized several devices, including Sheerer’s phone, a tablet, and computers, for further forensic analysis.
“Forensic analysis showed that Sheerer was involved in dozens of chats with users of the encrypted application, several of which included the exchange of CSAM,” officials said. “Several pornographic images of the child known to Sheerer which appeared to have been created in 2023 were also located.”
Sheerer has remained in federal custody since his arrest.
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