A motion to suppress hearing against a former physician assistant and former Kansas police officer has been reset for Feb. 10.
Stephen Allen Pichler, 58, of Harlingen, had been scheduled to appear in the 107th state District Court on Thursday for his hearing in Brownsville.
Pichler, a former Harlingen physician assistant and former Kansas police officer, was indicted by a Cameron County grand jury on 46 counts of child pornography on July 24, 2019.
He was arrested on June 27, 2019 after authorities executed a search warrant at his home.
According to the indictment, 21 of the child pornography allegations occurred on July 11, 2018, 6 on Dec. 28, 2018, 11 on June 8, 2018, five on May 2, 2018 and 3 on May 14, 2018.
Pichler appeared before 107th state District Court Judge Benjamin Euresti Jr. on Aug. 19, 2019, where he entered a not guilty plea on the charges. He received a $100,000 surety bond.
The Texas Medical Board in July 2019 suspended his medical license, a spokesman for the TMB said Thursday.
In June 2019, the Rio Grande Valley Child Exploitation Investigations Task Force and the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office Special Investigations Unit executed a search warrant at Pichler’s Harlingen home and discovered large quantities of child pornography, according to investigators with the district attorney’s office.
In an earlier interview, Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz said Pichler, who worked primarily with children, is a serious threat to kids in the community.
“Now you have professionals and professional positions that parents trust, for example, in this case, when you take your child to the doctor and the first thing they do is undress the child and you’re asked to wait in the lobby,” Saenz said. “You want to know they are safe.”
The man had a contract to work with unaccompanied minors who were detained after crossing into the United States, officials said.
Saenz said Pichler had both state and federal contracts, but declined to elaborate.
“So this guy was in a position to really abuse his confidence and position and professionalism and shows how challenging it is for law enforcement to ferret these people out,” Saenz said. “Where does this end? The reality is it doesn’t.”
A check of federal court records indicates no federal charges have been filed against Pichler.
