St. Louis Doctor Charged With Sexual Abuse And Child Porn

A St. Louis doctor has been charged on allegations of sodomy, incest, and possession of child pornography. According to Fox 2 Now, St. Louis County Police arrested Craig Pope, 50, on incest and pornography charges.

Reports state that Pope worked as a general practice physician at the Dillon Plaza Family Medicine Group, located at 1 Dillon Plaza Dr. in High Ridge. KMOV stated that Pope was fired Tuesday and none of his charges indicate any of the victims were his patients.

According to police, Pope allegedly had possessed and distributed child pornography. They also say that their investigation revealed that Pope had sexual contact with multiple victims under the age of 16 years who were family members. St. Louis Today reported that these incidents allegedly occurred between 1986 and 2014.

In an earlier report by The Inquisitr, a former doctor and pediatric specialist was accused of allegedly torturing his stepdaughter for years. Melvin Morse, 60, was accused of holding his stepdaughter’s face under a faucet, and “generally terrorized her over several years.”

According to the report, Deputy attorney general Melanie Withers depicted Morse as a brutal and domineering “lord and master.” She said that he abused the girl for years while her mother remained silent. She told continued on to tell the court that, “The defendant controlled every single aspect of that child’s life, including whether she had the right to draw breath.”

In the case of Craig Pope, police said that they received search warrants that allowed them to search both his practice and his home which officers say allowed them to seize his computes. St. Louis County Police Sargent Adam Kavanaugh said that further charges may come after investigators get a chance to examine the contents of Pope’s hard drives.

Pope is currently being charged with two counts of possession of child pornography, two counts of sodomy, four counts of first-degree statutory sodomy, three counts of second-degree statutory sodomy and four counts of incest.

While reports state that the current charges have indicated that none of his patients were victims, according to St. Louis Today, detectives are looking into whether Pope had inappropriate sexual contact with anyone he encountered at his medical practice. “Because of the access, it does make it a greater concern,” Kavanaugh said.

Pope is currently being held in the St. Louis County jail on a $1,000,000 bond. Police have said that no other victims have come forward, though they are asking that anyone who may have been a victim to come forward by calling police at 314-889-2341.

[Image via Shutterstock/albund and St. Louis County Police Department via St. Louis Today]