A former physician at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital has been federally charged with possessing over 153,000 images and 470 videos of child sexual abuse material.
Howard M. Saal, 73, previously worked as a geneticist and dysmorphologist at the hospital, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Charging documents allege that a Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office detective assigned to the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force began investigating Saal after receiving a cyber tip about searches for child pornography traced to Saal’s IP address. Prosecutors said one of the flagged images showed two naked girls, approximately 10 years old, engaged in sexual conduct.
Authorities said some of the material in Saal’s possession depicted children as young as newborns.
“I am incredibly proud of the work of our Regional Electronics and Computer Investigations unit and their diligence in investigating this individual,” Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey stated in the DOJ release. “We encourage anyone who thinks they may be a victim of Dr. Saal to contact our detectives. We will continue to seek out dangerous individuals and bring justice to victims’ families.”
Investigators said there is no evidence linking the abuse material to patients of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
“The FBI and our partners will continue to fiercely investigate those who attempt to sexually exploit children,” said FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge Elena Iatarola. “I want to thank the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office for their work on this investigation and for their strong partnership. Law enforcement is always more effective when we work together to address crime issues impacting our community.”
Child exploitation cases have drawn national attention in recent months.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, files obtained by the Open Records Project suggest sexual abuse in the Fort Worth Independent School District is a problem. There are more than 20 documented abuse cases, and some of the records have the alleged perpetrators’ names redacted. Two entries in the system list “unknown” in the “name” section. Both entries are marked as SXIS.