Police Turn Over Evidence In Levy Case To FBI
BALTIMORE (AP/WJZ) -- Baltimore police say they have transferred all forensic evidence they've acquired in the investigation into a gynecologist who secretly recorded patients to the FBI.
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Friday that officers gave the evidence to the FBI on Thursday. Federal agents will conduct a preliminary analysis and within four to six weeks will be able to tell if Dr. Nikita Levy was involved with child pornography and what images -- if any -- were online.
Levy, 54, used personal equipment, including a camera pen, to take pictures and videos of his patients. He killed himself on Feb. 18.
The investigation into how Levy secretly videotaped perhaps thousands of his patients -- and who knew about it -- now includes former Baltimore City Police Commissioner Fred Bealefeld, as well as state regulators, city police and the city state's attorney.
Hopkins confirms former commissioner Bealefeld will be part of its internal investigation. They won't say his exact role and Bealefeld isn't talking, but his involvement--just seven months removed from his post--concerns forensic investigator Tom Mauriello.
"The opposition attorneys are going to use that, and that's going to cloud the investigation--no matter what he comes up with," Mauriello said. "It doesn't make sense to me. There are issues of bias and everything else that are natural. Some of the behavior and activities appear to have happened when he was in fact commissioner."
Related Link: All Of The Letters Hopkins Has Sent Our Relating To Dr. Levy
Mauriello likens the widespread, complex investigation into Dr. Levy--involving issues of trust and a powerful institution--to that of former Penn State Coach Jerry Sandusky and the Catholic sex abuse scandal.
"It's a question of what was reported and what wasn't reported, and you never really know what that was," he said.
Hopkins says it acted quickly after a co-worker discovered a camera pen around Levy's neck. They cut off Levy's contact with patients. Now police are combing through computers seized from the home where he killed himself just weeks later.
"A person doesn't engage in the activity that doctor was engaged in and walk in every day and appear and act completely normal. There's always that something," said Mauriello. "At this point, they're going to have to evaluate everything they have."
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Federal investigators are assisting city police who have received calls from more than 2,000 patients.
The designated police hotline is 410-396-2269. Police say all information is confidential.
(Copyright 2013 -- The Associated Press contributed to this report. All Rights Reserved.)
