FREDERICK, Md. — A former Frederick pediatrician was sentenced to three decades behind bars for sexually abusing underage patients.
Ernesto Cesar Torres, 74, initially faced over 97 charges for crimes spanning over four decades.
Prosecutors eventually whittled the case down to four counts, all of which a jury found Torres guilty of.
Torres has already served 2,087 days in prison, which knocks more than five-and-a-half years off his remaining sentence.
Upon release, Torres will be placed on five-years of supervised probation, and have to register as a sex offender.
Allegations against Torres began in May of 2019, when the mother of an 11-year-old patient reported their child had been sexually abused during a medical exam.
In court the victim said their "childhood was taken away" from them.
“For 15 years my children saw him regularly," the victim's mother told the judge. "I trusted him. I had no idea what my child was living through. My trust in him was shattered and I will carry this pain for the rest of my life; I still carry the guilt.”
"Now this child predator will spend 25 more years in jail," said Frederick County State’s Attorney Charlie Smith. "What he had to say about the victims at sentencing was one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever endured in a courtroom. The only thing demonic about this case is this defendant’s actions.”
