Dentist Charged with Child Exploitation Offenses

John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Brian C. Turner, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that SCOTT DAVID COHEN, 39, of Stratford, was arrested today and charged by federal criminal complaint with multiple child sexual exploitation offenses.

As alleged in the criminal complaint, earlier this month, Cohen, using the username “drpinstripe13,” began communicating on Instagram with an individual whom he believed was a 15-year-old girl.  In numerous chat conversations, Cohen expressed in graphic detail his desire to engage in sexual activity with the “minor.”  Cohen described a variety of sexual activities he wanted to have with the minor and sent her sexually explicit images of himself.

The complaint further alleges that the minor told Cohen that she lived out of state and had plans to travel to New York to visit a relative.  Cohen, who is a dentist with a practice in Trumbull, expressed a willingness to reschedule patients at his dental practice in order to meet the girl.

Cohen was arrested this afternoon after he traveled to the Stratford train station to meet the “girl.”

Following his arrest, Cohen appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge William I. Garfinkel in Bridgeport and was ordered detained pending a detention hearing that is not yet scheduled,

The complaint charges Cohen with enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity, travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, transfer of obscene material to minors, and sexual exploitation of children.

U.S. Attorney Durham stressed that a criminal complaint is not evidence of guilt.  Charges are only allegations, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Connecticut Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria del Pilar Gonzalez.

This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.