Former Tenn. Doctor Arrested On Child Porn Charges

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A pediatrician who once practiced in the Nashville area is charged with rape, sodomy and possessing child pornography.

Patient safety advocates are outraged that Dr. Michael Roy Sharpe managed to get-by with a squeaky clean record.

The 63-year-old Sharpe sits in a Birmingham, Alabama jail on Monday federally charged.

Sharpe managed to get-out of Tennessee with an expired medical license, and a flawless record despite some serious claims lodged against him.

On paper, Sharpe looked like the perfect pediatrician.

"Conscientious, hardworking and dedicated ..." according to letters. A man "...who's practice is of the highest caliber," reads one review that got the doctor licensed in Tennessee.

A federal indictment accuses Sharpe of possessing child pornography on his cell phone.

In between the accused doctor and the Dr. Sharpe who garnered glowing reviews in the mid-80s are 24-years of practice. Some serious, sexual allegations never made it onto the radar.

Michael Roy Sharpe, according to the Associated Press, was fired from three hospitals in middle Tennessee; in Lebanon in 1992, in Lawrenceburg in 1994 and in Shelbyville in an unknown year.

Two of the three terminations, according to courtroom testimony, are rooted in allegations of inappropriate touching of female patients.

Sharpe allowed his Tennessee medical license to expire in October 2005, according to the state department of health. He slipped out of Tennessee, without as much as a smudge on his record.

He transitioned to Alabama. The doctor, according to courtroom testimony, allegedly had sex at least three times with a 15-year-old female patient.

An investigator testified the teen texted Sharpe nude photos of herself. There are also new allegations surfacing against the doctor. A 16-year-old female said that she was encouraged to disrobe and dance for the doctor during an exam.

Three local hospitals were supposed to have submitted Dr. Sharpe's terminations from years back to a federal database. They apparently never did or Alabama would have stumbled upon the red flags.

A patient safety advocate said only 26-states require hospitals to report. Tennessee is not one of them.

Dr. Sharpe's attorney told the Associated Press his client will be cleared entirely on all charges.