Doctor Arrested In Sex-For-Drugs Sting
Updated 01/14/11 - 4:34 p.m.
WILMETTE, Ill. (CBS) -- An Oak Park doctor was arrested Thursday for allegedly offering to trade prescription drugs for sex.
Wilmette police said that undercover officers responded to a posting that Dr. Joshua Baron, 37, placed on the website Craigslist, offering prescription drugs for trade.
LISTEN: Newsradio 780's Mike Krauser reports
Podcast
After exchanging a series of emails, Baron, of 824 S. Taylor Av. in Oak Park, allegedly offered to trade phony prescriptions for sex acts, police said.
Baron was arrested after traveling to Wilmette to make the trade and he was charged with attempted delivery of a controlled substance, a felony, and solicitation of a sex act, a misdemeanor.
There was no answer at Baron's home on Friday and neighbors didn't want to go on camera, but as CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports, most neighbors said they had a hard time believing the allegations against the father of three.
"I'm shocked and I'm waiting to find out if it's actually true," one neighbor said. "He is a really nice guy; the whole family."
Baron and his wife were in the process of attempting to adopt a blind child from China. They have written about the process in a family blog.
Judge Larry Axelrood set Baron's bond at $2,000 Friday afternoon and ordered a preliminary hearing for Jan. 21, according to Cook County State's Attorney's office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton.
A representative for Rush University Medical Center confirmed that Baron was on staff there. He has been suspended, pending further investigation into his case and won't be allowed on campus or to see or admit patients at the hospital.
According to a biography of Baron posted on the hospital's website, he joined the Rush Pediatric Neurology division in July 2006. He has a focus in epilepsy, particularly in neonatal epilepsy and the interactions between sleep and epilepsy.
(The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.)
