By A.J. Algier
The Mystic River Press
HARTFORD — Todd M. Parrilla, a popular 49-year-old pediatrician referred to as “Dr. Todd” by some of the 2, 500 young patients he treated in his thriving Pawcatuck practice, was sentenced to federal prison last week for collecting and distributing more than 100, 000 graphic images and 10, 000 videos of children engaged in sadistic and masochistic sexual conduct.
U.S. District Court Judge Vanessa L. Bryant sentenced Parrilla to five years in federal prison, beginning Jan. 4., when he is scheduled to turn himself over to U.S marshals. The judge also imposed a $10, 000 fine and a lifetime term of supervised release. Before his sentencing in U.S District Court, Parrilla had pleaded guilty in June to one charge of receipt and distribution of child pornography.
Parrilla relinquished his medical license in August and will have to register as a sex offender.
The doctor, who was raised in Westerly, was arrested at his home on 40 Pellegrino Road, Stonington, on Aug. 23, 2011, and charged with possessing and distributing child pornography through a peer-to peer file sharing service. In his plea agreement, Parrilla agreed that he knowingly possessed and distributed thousands of images and videos portraying minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Parrilla had been released on bond under strict supervision of the U.S. probation office.
His parents, Linda and Kenneth Parrilla, have attended his court hearings and have been supportive of their son.
Parrilla’s attorney, Alan Sobol of Hartford, has portrayed his client as a man scarred for life and suffering post-traumatic stress disorder as the result of a sexual incident he witnessed at a Boy Scout camp when he was 12. Parrilla, according to authorities, never revealed the incident until he was arrested. He said he witnessed an older Scout sexually abuse another younger boy, but did not report the incident. Sobol said that Parrilla found through intense therapy that the incident could have been a trigger to his later problems.
Sobol said that Parrilla, who has worn an electric monitoring device for more than a year in home confinement, was “intensely remorseful” for his actions, and was committed to a course of treatment to control his sexual fantasies. He sought to mitigate the five-year mandatory minimum sentence prescribed for the offense. “There is not a scintilla of evidence to support even the most tenuous inference that Mr. Parrilla ever had inappropriate contact with a child,” Sobol wrote.
Prosecutors, however, disagreed with Sobol’s depiction.
“For more than a decade, this practicing pediatrician secretly assembled a massive collection of child pornography,” stated U.S. Attorney David Fein. “The images Dr. Parrilla possessed and traded included numerous horrific depictions of the sexual abuse of children. It’s an incredible act of hypocrisy by someone who should have been committed to the well being of children. Viewing child pornography is never a victimless act, and this sentence should serve as a warning to anyone who is contemplating engaging in similar crimes.”
Bryant previously ruled against Parrilla’s partner in his pediatric business, Westone, in Pawcatuck, which was closed after his arrest. His business partner, Dr. Jennifer Campo, who was allowed to file as a Jane Doe, sought to be declared a victim of Parrilla and asked for restitution.
In court papers, Campo said that during the months following Parrilla’s arrest in August 2011, she “struggled alone to deal with concerned patients, prying reporters and a never-ending series of legal problems, all caused by the defendant’s conduct that was the basis for his arrest and conviction.”
Campo said that after keeping the business going alone for three months, she was forced to sell her house and leave the area. She said she has also become embroiled in legal matters as the result of patients who have retained legal counsel.
“I am fearful that I could be sued, all because of the defendant’s conduct which was the basis for his arrest,” she said.
The doctor said she “only asked that Parrilla indemnify me for the cost of defending any future proceedings,” and that the money be held in escrow by legal counsel.
Todd Parrilla, leaving federal cour t in Har tford on bond this summer, relinquished his medical license in August and will have to register as a sex offender.
Copyright 2012 The Mystic River Press
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