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SAN DIEGO (AP) — In an Aug. 27 story about a pediatric nurse being charged with molesting a 2-month-old baby in San Diego, The Associated Press, based on information from the FBI, reported erroneously that Michael William Lutts had pleaded not guilty to the charge. Prosecutor Alessandra Serano says that Lutts appeared in federal court on Wednesday but did not enter a plea.
A corrected version of the story is below:
A pediatric nurse in Southern California has been charged with molesting his 2-month-old foster child, and investigators are asking for the public's help to find other possible victims.
Michael William Lutts, 50, appeared in federal court Wednesday on a charge of sexually exploiting a child.
He did not enter a plea, said Alessandra Serano, the federal prosecutor for the case.
Lutts was in federal custody.
Lutts is a pediatric nurse in San Diego County. He was given custody of a 2-month-old, prematurely born foster baby Aug. 4, according to the FBI's criminal complaint.
He began molesting the boy the same day and recorded images and video on a cellphone that was seized during a search at his San Diego home Tuesday, an FBI agent stated in the complaint. Time stamps on the images indicate that the boy was molested for at least 10 days, according to the document.
"In my 28 years of being an FBI agent, it's one of the more disturbing cases," said Darrell Foxworth, an FBI spokesman in San Diego. "You look at the age of the victim here. This is a helpless child."
The FBI began investigating Lutts after he was linked to an email account that authorities believe was used to send child porn images to a suspected distributor, Foxworth said.
FBI investigators found more child pornography on computers, hard drives, CDs and other media, according to the criminal complaint.
Investigators planned to examine that material to identify other possible victims, Foxworth said. Because Lutts' job gave him access to children, investigators also were asking anyone with information to come forward.
Authorities also intend to look at the process by which Lutts was given care of the foster baby, who is now in protective custody, Foxworth said.
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