ANNAPOLIS, Md. – A Delaware pediatrician is accused of molesting at least 16 patients, including some who appear to be no more than 6 months old, and police said the doctor used video cameras to record some of the brutal attacks in exam rooms.
Dr. Earl B. Bradley, 56, was being held on $2.9 million bond Tuesday, said Sgt. Walter Newton, a Delaware State Police spokesman. Police believe there could be more victims.
Bradley, of Lewes, faces 29 charges, including rape. He was charged last week with sexually abusing nine girls.
"Forensic evaluation of seized video files and software has to date discovered 15 more unidentified victims," according to a detective's sworn statement obtained by The News Journal of Wilmington.
While court officials released some records to The Associated Press, the detective's affidavit was not one of them.
An explicit 18-page document released to AP did, however, detail the alleged attacks in exam rooms, which had Disney themes such as Pinocchio, at BayBees Pediatrics, Bradley's solo practice. A detective who viewed the assaults described in court papers the 6-foot, 225-pound Bradley as having a "violently enraged expression on his face" in one video involving a 2-year-old.
Newton said he did not know if Bradley had an attorney. A listed home phone number could not be found for Bradley, and prison officials would not allow a call through to him for comment Tuesday night.
The detective, who noted he had viewed thousands of child molestation images, described the video "as one of the most violent and brutal attacks on a child of any age" that he had seen.
"At the end of the tape, the defendant re-dresses, offers the child a treat and tells her they are going in to see 'Mommy,"' according to the documents.
In another video, Bradley abuses a patient who tried twice to run away, the documents said. Some of the video clips were 20 to 30 seconds. Others lasted more than 11 minutes.
Court documents said a Dec. 15 raid of the doctor's office found six hand-held video cameras, but it wasn't clear whether cameras were held or set up for the tapings. Police also seized a computer and digital and thumb drives.
Authorities later searched the doctor's home in Lewes, a town of 3,100 on the Delaware coast, taking away digital cameras, VHS tapes and numerous photo negatives.
Police claim Bradley abused children in more than one room at his office, noting that he also took children to an outbuilding "where he keeps rides, toys and treats."
The alleged crimes cited in court papers happened between August and this month. Police said they learned of the alleged abuse when a 2-year-old girl told her mother that the doctor had hurt her during a Dec. 7 appointment.
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