Mass. school: Ex-med director used computer for porn

Published September 15, 2012

Associated Press

BOSTON –  The head of a Massachusetts prep school says the former medical director was reprimanded for using a school computer to access adult pornography, one of the many reasons he was not rehired.

But Phillips Academy’s John Palfrey stressed in a Friday email to students, parents, staff and faculty that the academy’s concerns with Dr. Richard Keller are unrelated to a federal child pornography charge against him. Palfrey said he does not believe any of the students were the subject of Keller’s alleged crime.

Keller, 56, a pediatric endocrinologist, was arrested at his Andover home Thursday. He remained in custody Friday and has a Monday bail hearing. Both Children’s Hospital in Boston, where he works, and Harvard Medical School, where he is a pediatrics instructor, say they have placed him on leave.

The New York Times and The Boston Globe reported Friday on Palfrey’s e-mail.

Federal prosecutors allege that Keller purchased and ordered more than 50 DVDs of child pornography online. During a search of his home, authorities found more than 500 photographs and 60 to 100 DVDs of child pornography, according to an affidavit filed in court.

Keller was the medical director at Phillips Academy in Andover for 19 years before stepping down.

Palfrey said in the email that the school told Keller in April of last year that his contract would not be renewed. Palfrey said Keller resigned and left that same month.

Palfrey said the school did not renew Keller’s contract because of “professional misconduct” unrelated to the federal charge. He said the reasons included the reprimand in 1999, “an inappropriate cartoon” Keller showed students in 2002, and “an inappropriate voice-mail message to a colleague at the school” in 2010.

Children’s Hospital has said no complaints or concerns have been expressed by any patients or family members about the care Keller provided to them at Children’s.

Paige Kelly, a federal public defender who represented Keller in court after his arrest, didn’t return a previous call seeking comment. If convicted, Keller faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and up to 20 years in prison.

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