Former Bethpage Doctor Gets Maximum Sentence for Child Sex Exploitation

BETHPAGE, NY— A former Long Island pediatrician who pleaded guilty to federal sex abuse charges was sentenced to prison on Wednesday in Federal Court.

Rakesh Punn, 57, of Bethpage, received the maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, according to Newsday.

Punn was arrested on July 16, 2010 on charges that he drugged, sexually abused, and videotaped young female patients, one as young as 11, in his office. Punn told the girls that these were medically necessary examinations, according to the DA.

In April 2014, Punn pleaded guilty to federal sexual abuse charges and admitted to sexually abusing one 11-year-old patient, NBC New York reports.

In Sept. 2014, Punn pleaded guilty to drugging and sexually abusing young girls in his Bethpage office, claiming the incidents were part of a medical examination, authorities said. He is scheduled to be sentenced in that case next month, according to NBC.

The DA said that in 2007, Punn took video footage and still photographs of at least five young girls in his office.

Punn obtained video footage in two different ways. First, he would have them disrobe, lie on the exam table, and cover their eyes with gauze and a blindfold. He would then videotape or photograph his sexual contact with them. Investigators say that Punn touched and manipulated the girl’s genitals. In many instances, Punn would give the girls a sedative to render them unconscious.

In other instances, he had the girl stand in his office, while a small digital camera hidden among objects on his desk recorded video. Punn would then have the victim expose her breasts in various positions while being taped. Punn also duped some of the girls into signing a “contract” that said that they were 18 and willing to perform numerous sexual acts on Punn, according to the DAs office.

Punn also wrote prescriptions for chloral-hydrate, a controlled substance, and gave the prescriptions to patients or another person. He would then trick the patients into filling prescriptions and bringing them back to him, under the guise of compounding a special drug or “checking” the prescription. Punn then secretly removed the bottle of chloral-hydrate and kept it for himself. During a search warrant of his office, investigators found three bottles of chloral-hydrate, with prescription labels in patient’s names, the DA’s office said.

Punn reportedly targeted young girls who belonged to poor, uneducated families in the Indian community, Newsday reports.

A search of his home revealed a large amount of cash and a forged international driver’s license with his photo, but a false name and birth date, officials said.

Back in November 2012, Punn pleaded guilty in a separate case to grand larceny, welfare fraud and a scheme to defraud.

Image via NCDA