Halifax pediatrician pleads guilty to accessing child pornography

A Halifax pediatrician has pleaded guilty to accessing pornographic anime, digital images and literature involving children.

Dr. William RichardVitale, who is in his70s, will be sentenced March 14, 2019for two counts of possession of child pornography. He entered his pleain Halifax provincial court on Monday.

Crown prosecutor Perry Borden saidVitaleaccessed the files on his home computer between January 2013 and December 2014.

"You can get images that look like they're real but they're not, they could be 3D images a large percentage of them were digital imagery, not photographs," he said.

Four other counts will be dropped at sentencing, said Borden. He added that Vitale's lawyer, Stan MacDonald, told the court he plans to challenge his client's addition to the sex offender registry.

Borden also said there will be a joint recommendation on sentencing.

In 2016,Vitalewas initiallycharged with possession of child pornography, accessing child pornography and having child pornography for the purpose of distribution. An additional three counts were added this past August, Borden said.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia immediately suspended Vitale after he was charged. That suspension remains in place.

Previously reprimanded

Vitale, who graduated from McGill University's faculty of medicine in 1976, was reprimanded twice by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia.

He was disciplined in 2015 for writing prescriptions for a member of his own family and also in 2013 for improperly administering vaccinations. The college found he was improperly mixing incompatible vaccines in a single syringe.

The college ordered Vitale to undergo specialized ethics training in Toronto and to submit to an audit of his practice.

Read more articles at CBC Nova Scotia