Pediatrician's Office Looked Like Playground, Was Allegedly Scene of Abuse
LEWES, Del., Dec. 26, 2009 — -- Dr. Earl Bradley's office looks like a playground, a place thousands of parents in the small town of Lewes, Del., felt safe bringing their children.
The 56-year-old pediatrician now stands accused of sexually assaulting seven children in the last year, and possibly more than 100 over a period of 11 years.
Bradley is being held in the Vaughn Correctional Center on a $2.9 million cash bond after he was charged with 33 felony counts, including rape and sexual exploitation of a child, stemming from incidents at his Lewes practice, BayBees Pediatrics.
Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden told ABCNews.com that "this is a very very troubling case, and we here in the state of Delaware are pursuing it aggressively to the fullest extent of the law."
"The thing that makes this case so troubling and horrific is the alleged abuse of trust in this matter," Biden said. "These are highly specialized cases where no one in the community could believe someone could do this to a child, to a child who is voiceless."
Biden said that some of the alleged victims were just months old. If convicted, Bradley could face life in prison, according to Biden.
"Both as an attorney general and a father of two children it shocks the conscience," said Biden. "But I'd like to take this opportunity to tell parents that we are doing everything in our power to pursue this case to the fullest extent of the law.
"One, you have a person in a position of trust who we entrust our children to, and two, you have children who are sometimes unable to verbalize that something bad has happened to them," Biden said.
According to court documents, Bradley lured children away from their parents, bringing them to a room filled with candy and toys. There, he would allegedly videotape his assaults on children, prosecutors said.
According to court documents obtained by ABCNews.com, the investigation was spurred after a 2-year-old girl told her mother that Bradley had touched her genitals and "hurt her" during a Dec. 7 appointment.
