An emergency room doctor at the University of Vermont Medical Center is facing federal child pornography charges after he was arrested last month for allegedly hiding a camera in a staff bathroom.
Police arrested Eike Blohm in April on state voyeurism charges for planting a concealed camera in a bathroom for employees at the medical center. Police found footage on the KNOWYOURNANNY camera, which had been concealed in an air freshener, that showed him and his name badge while setting up the camera, according to an affidavit.
This week, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Vermont filed charges against Blohm for production of and possession of child pornography, for multiple images and videos police found on his devices after the initial investigation into the hidden camera at UVM Medical Center.
Blohm appeared in U.S. District Court in Burlington Friday to answer to the charges. He’s being held pending trial, according to the prosecutor’s office.
According to an affidavit filed in federal court, when police reviewed the footage from the hidden camera in the staff bathroom, they found more than 300 videos from that location.
They also found more than 600 videos from what appeared to be another bathroom at the medical center, according to the affidavit. The short videos showed people in scrubs apparently unaware that they were being filmed using the bathroom and changing.
Police also found footage on the device from what appeared to be a private bathroom, which showed two women showering and bathing.
Because of the videos, he was cited on state charges of voyeurism and his devices were seized on April 17.
That day, a mental health provider, who is mandated by law to report suspected child abuse or neglect, alerted the Department for Children and Families to details from a conversation with Blohm, according to the affidavit.
Portions of the court documents are sealed to protect the identity of minors, according to court filings.
After Blohm’s devices were seized, police found video footage that showed a nude child in a bathtub, including images of genitalia. The child was known to Blohm, according to court documents.
On Blohm’s iPad, police also found 132 child pornography images that did not involve the same child.
Lisa Shelkrot, of Langrock Sperry & Wool, LLP, who is representing Blohm, declined to comment on the charges.
On Friday, a judge ordered Blohm to be detained pending trial.
In a filing arguing for his detention, Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Masterson argued that the doctor is a “danger to the community,” and raised the timing of the placement of the camera — in the midst of the state’s outbreak of Covid-19.
“That callous, selfish willingness to exploit his unaware coworkers for his own sexual gratification at a time of maximum vulnerability for them is consistent with his willingness to sexually exploit innocent children,” the prosecutor wrote.
According to court papers, he has been fired from his job at UVM Medical Center.
Read the story on VTDigger here: UVMMC doctor charged with child pornography.