MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — A local doctor practicing in Sarasota was arrested and charged for soliciting pornography from an underage girl online, officials say.
The Manatee County Sheriff's Office said Pete Supan, 38, was indicted on Jan. 7 after an investigation involving the FBI and the US Attorney's Office.
Detectives said on Oct. 28, 2024, they received a cyber tip about suspicious chats of a "sexual nature" on Reddit between a suspect from Bradenton and a victim from Utah.
According to officials, the suspect, later identified as Supan, solicited the 14-year-old girl for nude images. The chat also contained "verbiage of sex acts" that the suspect would perform on the victim.
During the investigation, they learned Supan worked as a medical doctor practicing internal medicine on adult patients in Sarasota. Investigators obtained a search warrant for his home on Spring Gate Trail in Lakewood Ranch.
When detectives interviewed Supan, he allegedly admitted to chatting with the victim and soliciting the images from her. He also said he sent the victim explicit photos of himself.
While searching his home, multiple devices were seized and taken for further examination. Detectives determined that Supan had no access to children and he had not traveled to meet any minors, limiting his activity to online chats.
Officials located the victim out of state and learned that the authorities in that jurisdiction were already investigating and had collected enough evidence to take the case to federal courts.
Supan was charged with one count of transmission of harmful materials and one count of production of child sexual abuse material. He was arrested on Jan. 8 in Sarasota before being taken to the US Marshals Service in Tampa.
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