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By Dan Rudy 

Salard trial date delayed, set for May

 

Greg Salard

Former Wrangell physician Greg Salard appeared Monday in U.S. District Court before Judge Timothy Burgess in Juneau for a hearing to postpone trial. A new trial date has been set for May 26.

Salard was arrested at his Wrangell home last October and indicted by a

federal grand jury on two felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child, for

distributing and possessing child pornography. He is pleading not guilty to both charges.

He was previously scheduled to stand trial Jan. 5, when his defense attorney, assistant federal defender Cara McNamara, requested for a delay in order to further review evidence against him.

A new trial date was set for Feb. 23, but McNamara requested another

continuance on Jan. 27 because more time was needed to forensically evaluate Salard's computer.

She reported examination of the

computer had begun on Jan. 5 but had not yet been completed by the time her request was submitted. Salard's counsel also expected that additional discovery by the prosecution would be made available for his defense.


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Salard had been arrested on

Oct. 15, 2014, by federal, state and

local agencies, following a five-month

investigation by the Federal

Bureau of Investigation's Anchorage office.

FBI investigators had been monitoring a peer-to-peer file sharing network engaged in exchanging pornographic material. The affidavit for Salard's arrest alleges an IP address linked him to the network, and that between February and October 2014 he had made available at least 104 files containing videos and images suspected of being child pornography.


A laptop in his home at the time of

the search was in the process of having its files erased. Despite this, the

report alleged two illicit files were

initially found on the computer and

that a more detailed examination

located 25 further files which had been deleted.

Salard had previously been a

physician specializing in family practice employed by Alaska Island Community Services and had been chief of staff at Wrangell Medical Center. Both

suspended Salard's hospital privileges after his arrest, and he is now no longer employed by either organization.

Citing this development and other financial obligations, Salard requested that a court-appointed defender


represent him. Salard is currently being held at Lemon Creek Correctional Facility in Juneau while he awaits

trial.

According to the U.S. District Attorney's office, if convicted of

distribution Salard faces a maximum statutory penalty of not less than five and up to 20 years imprisonment. If convicted of possession, he faces a

maximum statutory penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment, fines of up to $250,000 as well as the possibility of a lifetime period of supervised release

following any sentence of imprisonment.

Any sentence would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

 

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