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Miami Herald
5 days ago
- Miami Herald
Transplant surgeon sent child porn images from WI children's hospital, feds say
Years of messages about sex acts with kids and child pornography images were traced back to a transplant surgeon at a Wisconsin hospital, federal officials said. The IP address of the Kik messaging account under investigation since 2023 was located at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital in Milwaukee, prosecutors said in a July 15 criminal complaint. Now, one of the hospital's transplant surgeons, 46-year-old Calvin Eriksen, is charged with distributing and possessing child pornography, the complaint said. The doctor is accused of sending child pornography through the Kik messaging app between January and April, the complaint said. 'The allegations in the criminal complaint are deeply disturbing. This doctor has been placed on leave, and his ability to see patients has been suspended while the investigation proceeds. We are fully cooperating with law enforcement,' a spokesperson for the hospital said in a statement. McClatchy News reached out to Eriksen's attorney but did not immediately receive a response. According to online profiles and federal agents, Eriksen worked at a children's hospital and performed transplants on people of all ages, including infants and kids, court documents said. In 2023, an undercover agent pretending to be a 29-year-old woman with an 8-year-old daughter in West Palm Beach, Florida, came into contact with Eriksen through Kik, federal officials said. Eriksen sent messages to the undercover agent in August 2023 asking to perform sex acts with her and her daughter, according to the criminal complaint. Days after the initial message, Eriksen, who was using a fake name, told the undercover agent that he had a 22-year-old daughter who he wanted to molest, but couldn't because his wife was a stay-at-home parent, prosecutors said. The man also discussed traveling to Florida to engage in sex acts with the woman and her child, according to the complaint. Communications between the undercover agent and Eriksen abruptly stopped in December 2023. In July 2024, the undercover agent came across the Kik user in another group, and he began to send her messages about sex acts with children again, according to federal officials. He sent the undercover agent photos showing him in medical scrubs, according to investigators. Eriksen also sent the agent nude images and asked that the images be shown to the child, prosecutors said. The messages stopped that same month because Eriksen's account was banned from Kik, the complaint said. Eriksen was arrested on July 15 but was released and ordered not to have contact with any children under the age of 18, according to court records. He is scheduled to appear in court on July 31.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Wisconsin transplant surgeon accused of possessing child porn
The Brief A Wisconsin transplant surgeon is accused of possessing child pornography. The accused is 46-year-old Calvin Eriksen. Federal court filings indicated agents have been tracking Eriksen since 2023. MILWAUKEE - He is tasked with saving lives. Now a Wisconsin transplant surgeon has been charged by federal prosecutors with possessing child pornography. Accused of possessing child porn What we know On Tuesday, July 15, federal agents showed up at a home in a Brookfield subdivision. It was the culmination of a nearly two-year Homeland Security child sex crimes investigation. FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android Agents arrested 46-year-old Calvin Eriksen. Eriksen is a transplant surgeon at Children's Wisconsin, Froedtert Hospital, and he is also an assistant professor at Medical College of Wisconsin. Eriksen appeared in a federal courtroom later on Tuesday. He is charged with distribution and possession of child pornography. Timeline In 2023, a Homeland Security agent in West Palm Beach, Florida was monitoring sex-related online chat rooms. The agent was pretending to be a 29-year-old woman with an 8-year-old daughter. When a user messaged that he wanted to have sex with both of them, the user said he was a surgeon in Wisconsin. According to federal court documents, the lurid conversations continued online for several months, until the man stopped messaging. SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News In July 2024, the undercover agent spotted a variation of the user's screen name in another chat room – and started the conversations again. Filings say the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children found the user uploaded two files of apparent child pornography. One of those videos was sent from a Froedtert Hospital IP address. A warrant for the Kik user profile later found more than 350 pictures and more than 60 videos, and distributed them on various group chats. The user said online, "I am a surgeon. I do liver surgeries. Yes surgeries for liver cancer and other liver conditions, including liver transplants." His profiles have since been scrubbed from the three health system's websites. Eriksen in court What's next A federal judge ordered Eriksen released on a signature bond with location monitoring and curfew. Messages to a federal public defender who appeared with Eriksen have gone unreturned. FOX6 News messages to Froedtert Hospital, Children's Wisconsin and Medical College of Wisconsin have also been unreturned. It is unclear if Eriksen has an attorney who can speak on his behalf. Eriksen is due back in federal court later in July. The Source The information in this post was provided by federal court filings. Solve the daily Crossword
