Unsealed court documents say therapist downloaded child porn, molested terminally ill children in his care

As reported in the San Diego Area

A male nurse accused of molesting a comatose 4-year-old girl at Children's Hospital in San Diego downloaded electronic files of young girls engaging in sex acts with adult men, according to court documents unsealed Monday.

Christopher Alan Irvin, 32, pleaded not guilty in April to two counts of lewd acts on a child under 14 and multiple counts of distributing child pornography. If he is convicted of all counts, he faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

Christopher Alan Irvin told police when they arrested him and searched his City Heights apartment in April that he had molested the semi-comatose girl twice while she was under his care at the hospital, and that he had sexually abused a terminally ill 4-year-old patient “to see if he liked it,” all according to court documents released Tuesday.

Irvin, who worked in the hospital's intensive care unit from October 2004 until his arrest in April, remains jailed in lieu of $2 million bond.

Investigators said in court hearings Monday that the case has expanded to include planned interviews with children at a facility in Tallahassee, Fla., where Irvin worked as a registered nurse before moving to California. Files and documents seized at Irvin's home include the names of children he met there, said Detective Susan Righthouse.

According to an affidavit for a search warrant, a San Diego police officer said authorities seized documents related to adoption and foster care programs.

Prosecutors have said that Irvin fantasized in his journals about becoming a foster parent or adopting a child from San Diego, Florida, or the Ukraine. Documents were also seized relating to organizations where Irvin wanted to volunteer, including the YMCA. Prosecutors have said he did volunteer for Head Start and other San Diego children's' programs.

Righthouse said that officials from approximately 20 organizations named in those seized documents were also being questioned in the investigation.

Investigators also seized a journal from Irvin's apartment, along with a letter and photos from a 13-year-old girl and more than a dozen children's drawings. Prosecutors said in April that Irvin wrote in the journal, "I easily and often fall in love with young children."

Earlier Monday, Superior Court Judge Frederick Maguire ordered a second set of documents unsealed, but later gave Irvin's attorney, public defender Dawnella Gilzean, until Tuesday to seek a stay from the 4th District Court of Appeals. Those documents contain statements Irvin made to police.

Police also seized computers and electronic storage devices Irvin allegedly used to circulate child pornography over Internet file-sharing networks, according to an inventory list unsealed with the search warrant and affidavit.

Irvin was the second Children's Hospital caregiver to be arrested this year on charges of molesting patients and trafficking in child pornography.

Wayne Albert Bleyle, 54, a respiratory therapist, pleaded not guilty to charges that he molested five young patients, all of whom were unable to communicate because of brain damage or other severe conditions. He remains in custody in lieu of $5 million bond.

Both Bleyle and Irvin face preliminary hearings scheduled for September. Prosecutors say they do not believe the two cases are linked.