A Long Island pediatrician already charged in state court with sexually abusing young female patients is now facing federal charges.
Rakesh Punn, of Bethpage, entered a not guilty plea Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court on Long Island.
He is charged in a 36-count federal indictment with sexual exploitation of children and health care fraud.
His attorney declined to comment.
Punn had previously been charged in Nassau County. He is being held on $10 million bond.
Punn is accused of secretly videotaping, photographing and abusing girls as young as 11 while they were naked. Authorities found a "how-to book" on molestation he wrote on his computer.
According to the indictment on the state charges, the doctor allegedly asked the girls to take their clothes off, then asked them to lie on the examining table and covered their eyes with gauze and a blindfold.
Punn would then videotape or photograph his sexual contact with them, according to the indictment. 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, the indictment says.
In other instances, he allegedly had the victim 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 indictment says.
Punn committed these acts while telling the girls that these were medically necessary examinations, according to the indictment. Punn also allegedly 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.
The federal charges include accusations he filed fraudulent insurance claims for victims he allegedly molested.
He faces up to 30 years in prison on the federal charges.
