SPRINGDALE, Ark. — A pediatric surgeon who practiced in Northwest Arkansas for over a decade has been arrested and charged with rape and sexual assault involving at least one child.
Guy Rosenschein, 70, was booked into the Washington County Detention Center on July 17. As of July 25, he is still in custody in Washington County on a $250,000 bond.
An affidavit filed in January 2019 in Washington County is heavily redacted and offers few details on the case.
However, the affidavit does accuse Rosenschein of first-degree sexual assault and two counts of rape — incidents that allegedly took place in 2002 and 2006. The affidavit also notes that the case involves at least one juvenile victim. The case was investigated by the Springdale Police Department.
A warrant for Rosenschein's arrest was formally filed on February 1, 2019, in Washington County.
On July 5, 2024, Rosenschein, representing himself, filed a hand-written motion to dismiss. In the motion, the doctor requests oral arguments as "an opportunity to assist the court in reaching an informed and fair decision."
He adds that, at the time of writing, he was detained by the Bureau of Prisons at the Federal Correctional Institution in Pekin, Illinois.
The motion to dismiss was denied by a Washington County judge on July 25.
The arrest warrant was served and Rosenschein was booked in Washington County. On July 22, Rosenschein pleaded not guilty to the charges and got a trial date of Aug. 12.
Court records indicate that the first count of rape is tied to an incident on or around July 1, 2002, while the other count of rape and the count of sexual assault are tied to an incident on or around Nov. 1, 2006.
Rosenschein worked in Northwest Arkansas as a pediatric surgeon and pediatric urologist from 2001 to 2012.
5NEWS first reported on Rosenschein in 2017, when the FBI Albuquerque office sought information from people who may have had contact with him.
Then in 2019, a former patient from Arkansas sued Rosenschein in New Mexico.
The former patient, who remained anonymous, said that Rosenschein groomed him so he would be comfortable with sexually lewd acts that the doctor performed on him. The victim was 11 years old at the time.
Criminal History
Rosenschein has criminal and civil cases dating back almost a decade, related to various sex crimes and sometimes involving juveniles.
He was convicted for child sex abuse material (CSAM) in 2023, after a case that began in 2016.
In a complaint filed in 2016 in a New Mexico federal court, Rosenschein was accused of distributing and possessing CSAM.
An affidavit within the complaint says that in 2016, the FBI received a report from the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office in New Mexico that Rosenschein possessed and distributed CSAM, including pictures of prepubescent children.
The affidavit says that an online social service called Chatstep.com reported multiple instances of Rosenschein uploading and sharing CSAM images in 2016.
Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Rosenschein's address on Nov. 8, 2016. After making contact with officers, Rosenschein "ran back towards his bedroom on the second floor of the residence and armed himself with a firearm," the affidavit said.
Rosenschein eventually surrendered. A 16-year-old that Rosenschein claimed was his nephew was located in the bed where he fled to, according to the affidavit.
Multiple items of evidence were reportedly seized on the scene, including a thumb drive that contained "multiple images of child pornography." Rosenschein admitted to owning the thumb drive, the affidavit said.
Rosenschein was interviewed and told law enforcement that he was a pediatric surgeon at Presbyterian Hospital, specializing in urology, the affidavit said. He added that he had lived in Albuquerque for three years and that the 16-year-old in his bed was a former patient that he had operated on at least twice.
Court documents say that Rosenschein claimed that the teen stayed at his house, often overnight, but that the two did not have a sexual relationship. Rosenschein, who owned two airplanes and a helicopter, flew the teen to Florida, Nevada, and Arkansas for vacations.
After years of legal back-and-forth, an indictment was filed in June 2018, accusing Rosenschein of the following:
- Nine counts of distribution of visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct
- Six counts of possession of visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct
The charges related to incidents between 2010 and 2016. Rosenschein pleaded not guilty to all counts.
In October 2021, Rosenschein took a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to eight counts of the new indictment. On Jan. 31, 2023, Rosenschein was sentenced to 17 and a half years in prison.
In a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Mexico from the day of Rosenschein's sentencing, it was revealed that the FBI learned of a hidden room in his house after the initial search.
"The room, which was said to be behind a false wall inside a closet underneath the stairs, was present in the home before Rosenschein purchased it," the release said. "The FBI obtained a second search warrant to reenter the residence, where they located two safes inside the hidden room. Inside one of the safes, agents located additional CSAM."
Law enforcement allegedly located around 19,116 CSAM images and 2,092 CSAM videos during the course of their investigations.
The release says that Rosenschein worked as a pediatric surgeon in New York, Arkansas, and Missouri and that he had "befriended young male patients before sexually abusing the young boys."
"The investigation to date has revealed three alleged victims of sexual abuse committed by Rosenschein and charges are pending in Arkansas in association with two of these alleged victims," the release said.
The following quote was given in the release:
“Dr. Rosenschein’s conduct was shameful and heinous,” said United States Attorney Alexander M.M. Uballez. “Distribution and possession of material depicting the sexual assault of children are serious offenses that cause ongoing harm to the victims and encourage the sexual exploitation and rape of minors. These offenses are horrific when committed by any offender, but it is all the more egregious that the offender in this case was a pediatric surgeon. Using a position of trust to exploit the most vulnerable should always come with the maximum penalties under the law.”
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