Radiologist sentenced to 4 years in prison for possessing child pornography

A former Pittsburgh radiologist has been sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to pay thousands in fines for possessing child pornography, authorities announced Tuesday. 

Ashok Panigrahy, MD, now 54, was first caught with materials depicting the sexual exploitation of minors in November 2022. Authorities later indicted the former radiologist-in-chief at UPMC Children’s Hospital a year ago, and he pleaded guilty to the charges in March.

A resident of both Chicago and Pittsburgh, the physician was formally sentenced Tuesday to 48 months of imprisonment to be followed by 10 years of supervised release. U.S. District Judge Christy Criswell Wiegand also has ordered him to pay a $25,000 fine, further assessments of $22,000, and $10,000 in restitution to his victims. At the time of Panigraphy’s conduct, he was a children’s physician practicing in western Pennsylvania, according to information presented in court. 

The radiologist reportedly obtained these materials through online conversations with “other like-minded individuals” on an encrypted platform. While he did not possess a “vast collection,” authorities said the materials included video content, “which is arguably more egregious.” This included depictions of toddlers and prepubescent individuals being sexually abused. 

“Such conduct is unacceptable, period,” the sentencing memo submitted by U.S. authorities said. “However, it is more reprehensible when it is committed clandestinely by an individual who is entrusted with caring for children and is given privileged access to a facility dedicated to helping and treating children. Thus, beyond victimizing the children whose depictions of sexual abuse he possessed, the defendant’s conduct represents a disturbing betrayal of trust to our community of children and their families in the Western District of Pennsylvania.”

Panigraphy also had worked as a professor at UPMC before being terminated in November 2023 after law enforcement shared word of the investigation. He received his MD from Boston University and completed his residency and post-doctoral work in pediatric radiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. 

He had faced a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000, authorities said previously. The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the “growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.”