Beverly Hills therapist indicted for allegedly distributing child pornography
LOS ANGELES - A former Beverly Hills-based licensed marriage and family therapist has been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly distributing child sexual abuse material, the Justice Department announced today.
Ron Gad, of the Pico-Robertson area of Los Angeles, was charged Thursday with one count of distribution of child pornography.
The 49-year-old, whose marriage and family therapist license expired in November 2023, is free on $250,000 bond. He is expected to be arraigned on May 3 in the U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles.
According to the indictment, on December 2, 2021, Gad knowingly distributed child sexual abuse material involving a pre-teen via the Internet.
Court documents previously filed in this case state that in the fall of 2022, law enforcement became aware that Gad, who maintained a Beverly Hills office for his therapy practice, had engaged in sexually explicit online chats with someone he believed was a 13-year-old girl, but who was an undercover law enforcement officer.
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In October 2022, Gad allegedly drove nearly 200 miles from Beverly Hills to a public park in San Luis Obispo for an arranged meeting site where he believed he was to meet the "girl." Law enforcement conducted a traffic stop, arrested Gad and seized several digital devices, according to the affidavit.
A search of Gad’s digital devices led to evidence of Gad’s distribution of child pornography, as well as communications with suspected minors and internet searches related to sex with minors, the affidavit alleges.
The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office previously charged Gad in state court. That case was dismissed so Gad could be charged in federal court.
If convicted, Gad would face a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
Homeland Security Investigations and the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office are investigating this matter.