A Berks County doctor has pleaded guilty in federal court to child pornography and related charges.
Dr. Habib Bhatti, 44, of Barto entered the pleas Friday before U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl to two counts each of production of child pornography and possessing child pornography; and one count each of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, use of an interstate commerce facility to entice a minor, and attempt to entice a minor, according to a release from U.S. Attorney David Metcalf of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
According to Metcalf’s release and another issued by the U.S. Department of Justice:
Bhatti, a doctor of internal medicine, was arrested in September and charged by information in June related to traveling across the country to meet minors to engage in commercial sex acts, secretly recording himself engaging in sex acts with minors, and possessing child sexual abuse material.
From July 2024 to November 2024, Bhatti used the internet to coerce Minor Victim #1 into engaging in sexual activity that would constitute the crime of attempted statutory sexual assault.
In November 2024, Bhatti traveled from Pennsylvania to California to engage in illicit sexual conduct with Minor Victim #1 and Minor Victim #2.
In December 2018, the defendant sexually exploited Minor Victim #3 and Minor Victim #4 in Philadelphia, persuading each to engage in sexually explicit conduct to produce visual depictions of those acts.
Bhatti also possessed multiple devices containing hundreds of images and videos of child sexual abuse, with at least one of the minors depicted a prepubescent child under 12, that he had produced or collected over the years.
Bhatti also admitted committing offenses involving 24 additional minor girls. He would would meet the victims online and subsequently offer them money in exchange for sexually explicit photos and/or in-person sexual encounters. The victims were between 14 and 17 years old at the time.
Bhatti is scheduled to be sentenced in October. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum possible term of life in prison.