Crime & Safety

Pediatrician to Be Arraigned on Sex Charges

Prosecutor says young girls were abused, taped.

A Bethpage pediatrician will be arraigned Friday on multiple sex abuse and other charges.

Dr. Rakesh Punn was indicted in June on charges that he sexually abused and assaulted girls as young as 11 years old under the guise of medical examinations, and then secretly videotaped and photographed them.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said the 60-count grand jury indictment accused Punn of:

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Four counts of criminal sale of a prescription for a controlled substance, 28 counts of assault in the second degree, 10 counts of first-degree sexual abuse, three counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child, one count of possessing a sexual performance by a child, six counts of unlawful surveillance in the second degree, seven counts of fraudulently obtaining a signature, and one count of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the third degree.

If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison on each of the 28 assault charges. He has been in jail on $3.5 million bail since he was first arrested on July 16, 2010.

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The investigation began with a tip to the DA’s Office and is being investigated by the DA Squad and members of the NCPD’s Crimes Against Property Squad. Anyone who believes that they might have been a victim of Dr. Punn to contact the NCPD’s Special Victims Unit, to  call (516) 573-7960

was indicted Thursday on charges that he sexually abused and assaulted girls as young as 11 years old under the guise of medical examinations, and then secretly videotaped and photographed them.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said the 60-count grand jury indictment charges Dr. Rakesh Punn, 53, of Bethpage, with:

Four counts of criminal sale of a prescription for a controlled substance, 28 counts of assault in the second degree, 10 counts of first-degree sexual abuse, three counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child, one count of possessing a sexual performance by a child, six counts of unlawful surveillance in the second degree, seven counts of fraudulently obtaining a signature, and one count of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the third degree.

If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison on each of the 28 assault charges. He has been in jail on $3.5 million bail since he was first arrested on July 16, 2010.

Rice gave this account:  As early as 2007, Punn obtained video footage and still photographs of at least five young girls in his office. Punn would get video footage in two different ways. First, he would have them disrobe, lie on the examining 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 would have 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, the DA's office said.

Punn told the girls that these were medically necessary examinations. Punn also duped some of the girls into signing a “contract” that said that they were 18 years old and willing to perform numerous sexual acts on Punn.

In addition to the assaults and sexual abuse, Punn 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.

The investigation began with a tip to the DA’s Office and is being investigated by the DA Squad and members of the NCPD’s Crimes Against Property Squad. Anyone who believes that they might have been a victim of Dr. Punn to contact the NCPD’s Special Victims Unit, to  call (516) 573-7960.


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