LI doc pleads not guilty in child-sex case

A Bethpage pediatrician pleaded not guilty Wednesday to federal charges that he had sexually exploited three children whom he supposedly was treating, according to officials.

Dr. Rakesh Punn, 53, also pleaded not guilty in federal court in Central Islip to charges that he had filed fraudulent health-care claims with various insurance companies, saying that he had performed legitimate treatments on the three children and three other patients.

The "purported treatments had not been conducted for any medically accepted purpose, but rather for the sexual gratification of the defendant," according to a release by the U.S. attorney's office.

Punn's attorney, Steven Zissou of Bayside, declined to comment after the brief hearing, as did federal prosecutor Allen Bode.

Punn has been in the Nassau County jail since July 2010, when he was arrested by Nassau police on similar charges. He was then accused of drugging female patients, as young as 11 years old, and videotaping them while he was sexually abusing them.

Nassau prosecutors alleged then that some of the sexual abuse occurred while the children's parents were outside in the doctor's waiting room.

The federal case will be jointly prosecuted by federal and Nassau County prosecutors.

U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert ordered Punn to be held without bail, ruling he is a danger to the community and a flight risk. If convicted, Punn faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison on each of the sexual exploitation counts.