Federal prosecutors are gathering information about contact that Dr. Richard Keller, a former medical director of Phillips Academy in Andover who is facing child pornography charges, has had with minors, court records show.
According to a judicial order filed Friday in federal court in Boston, “the government has produced and anticipates continuing to produce various materials that contain the names of certain minors known to Keller and with whom Keller had contact.”
The order did not specify the nature of the contact or say when it took place.
Max Stern, a lawyer for Keller, said in an e-mail that the doctor “has not been and will not be accused of anything with respect to these names.”
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Stern did not respond when asked how the names will figure into the case.
A spokeswoman for US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz could not be reached for comment on Sunday.
Keller, 56, of Andover was arrested in September on charges of receiving child pornography. He has pleaded not guilty.
Authorities raided his home that month after tracing his name, e-mail, and billing address from the customer database of a foreign company that sold pornographic movies depicting minors, prosecutors have said.
Investigators found dozens of DVDs of child pornography and 500 sexually explicit photos involving minors, according to Ortiz’s office, and additional searches of Keller’s home were conducted in January.
Friday’s order said prosecutors have redacted the names of minors with whom Keller had contact, but his lawyers contend that “such identifying information is necessary to conduct [their] own investigation for the purposes of appropriately defending the case.”
The order allows prosecutors to provide materials to Keller’s defense team that include the minors’ names. However, his attorneys may not share the items with any third party, including him.
Keller, a pediatric endocrinologist, signed a voluntary agreement with the state medical board shortly after his arrest to stop practicing medicine indefinitely.
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He was also placed on leave at that time from his part-time job as a Harvard Medical School instructor and as a part-time Boston Children’s Hospital doctor. He has since been terminated from those positions.
No complaints have been made by any youths who interacted with Keller at Phillips or the children’s hospital, representatives of both institutions said on Sunday.
Travis Andersen
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tandersen@globe.com.
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