Beverly Hills Therapist Pleads Guilty To Child Porn Charge

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — A former Beverly Hills-based therapist pleaded guilty Monday to a federal child pornography charge after he drove from Beverly Hills to San Luis Obispo to meet up with who he thought was a 13-year-old girl, according to the Justice Department.

Ron Gad, 49, of Pico-Robertson, pleaded guilty to a charge of distributing child sexual abuse material in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Prosecutors said Gad admitted to circulating illegal material involving a preteen via the internet and across state lines, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors say the charge stems from a sexually explicit video of a preteen girl that Gad distributed, which was discovered as part of the investigation following Gad's arrest in San Luis Obispo, court documents show.

Gad is accused of accessing a chatroom meant for teenagers in 2022, where he began talking to an undercover San Luis Obispo County sheriff's deputy who was posing as a 13-year-old girl, according to court documents.

During their correspondence, the deputy sent Gad a photo of herself that was altered using an application to make her appear to be a young teen, court documents show.

Gad sent a photo of himself to the officer, which included a metal Charlie Chaplin sculpture in the background. Using a image search engine, investigators were able to identify Gad as the man in the photo. They also found information about his Beverly Hills-based therapy practice, along with another photo that included the Chaplin sculpture, Homeland Security Special Agent Sandra Cornils claimed in a court filing.

Gad and the deputy continued talking through text messages and on the phone, where Gad referred to her as his "little secret" and "little lover." He sent her a picture of his penis and asked if her could take her to a hotel, Cornils wrote.

On several occasions, Gad told her to delete the text messages from her phone, according to Cornils.

As he got ready to head to San Luis Obispo, Gad asked the deputy repeatedly to confirm that their relationship was one based on role play and that the deputy was in fact a 19-year-old college junior, according to Cornils.

"In my training and experience, I know adult persons with a sexual interest in children and willing to commit a sexual contact offense on a child will attempt to evade law enforcement by creating false exculpatory evidence to provide them with a defense if they are caught by law enforcement," Cornils wrote.

The pair arranged to meet at a public park in San Luis Obispo. When he arrived, Gad engaged in what law enforcement called "counter-surveillance tactics," when he scoped out the park from his car, according to Cornils.

Deputies conducted a traffic stop, arrested Gad and seized several electronic devices, according to Cornils.

"Gad claimed that he believed he had been communicating with an adult who was role-playing as a minor as part of a sexual fantasy," Cornils wrote.

Investigators asked the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children for tips about Gad and found that his Snapchat account had been flagged for distributing child sexual abuse material in 2021, according to Cornils.

The video in question was a 27-second, sexually explicit clip of a girl between the ages of 8 and 12, according to Cornils.

Additionally, Gad's search history revealed he had been searching the web for child sexual-abuse sting operations in San Luis Obispo, as well as for sexually explicit material of children, according to Cornils.

Gad's marriage and family therapist license expired last year.

He's due back in court for sentencing on May 12, where he faces at least five years in federal prison, according to prosecutors.