The Suicide of a Former Psychologist Facing Child Pornography Charges

From this Press-Register News Report

A former north Alabama psychologist facing child pornography charges and his wife were identified Saturday as the couple who killed themselves Friday underneath a Gulf-front home in Baldwin County.

Michael Stephen Cometa, 59, and Keri Cometa, 45, of Trenton, Ga., died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds under the stilted duplex along Fort Morgan Road, according to Baldwin County Sheriff's Office spokesman Anthony Lowery.

Earlier that day, Michael Cometa failed to appear for an arraignment hearing in Huntsville's Madison County Circuit Court, said his attorney, Larry Morgan.

Cometa was accused of videotaping a nude 16-year-old girl in his office, Morgan said.

A report in The Huntsville Times, citing the indictment, stated that the girl was under 16, and police said she was a client.

Cometa was indicted in 2004 on six counts of producing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography, according to online court records. The charges did not allege that Cometa had touched the girl in a sexual nature, Morgan said.

Cometa was free on bail pending his Oct. 29 trial, in which he faced life in prison, according to the attorney.

In March, after a bank foreclosed on Cometa's Huntsville home and he filed for bankruptcy, he and his wife moved to Georgia, and he did not renew his license to practice psychology, Morgan said.

"His life was absolutely turned upside down as a result of the whole incident," Morgan said. "He couldn't practice. His home was foreclosed. His wife was seriously ill."

Michael Cometa was the sole provider for his wife, and "if he had gone to prison, there would be nobody there for her," Morgan said.

Morgan said his client "was very remorseful and very contrite" over the charges he faced.

Cometa's previous wife committed suicide in 2003, Morgan said.

On the Web site TherapistRatings.com, where people can anonymously review therapists, three comments were about Cometa. One was positive.

Another, posted by a 21-year-old named Courtney from Huntsville, said she started seeing Cometa when she was 16.

"He kept telling me I should be a model," Courtney wrote. "To make a long story short, one year later I am being called ... (by) an investigator to look at pictures of girls to see if I recognize them."

On Friday, a witness reported hearing two loud blasts, and the bodies were discovered at about 5 p.m. Inside a Jeep Grand Cherokee parked near the bodies, the couple left separate notes that indicated their suicide intentions, according to Lowery.

Investigators found two shotguns at the scene.

There was nothing to suggest the couple had ties to south Alabama, Lowery said. The two were not renting the vacation home.

Of course, following a old tasteless joke www.TherapistRatings.com can also be read as www.TheRapistRatings.com. This follows in the path of other unfortunate web site names