Police on Tuesday acknowledged that a Halifax-area family doctor was wrongly arrested for child pornography related offences after a mistake from federal and U.S. partner agencies confused him with another person of a similar name in the U.S.
Dr. David Barnett was originally accused of the offences but has since been cleared.
According to a Halifax Regional Police news release issued on Tuesday, HRP started an investigation on Dec. 2 into potential possession and distribution of child pornography after the referral. A search warrant was executed and an arrest made, although no charges were sworn.
“On Jan. 22, 2021, we were advised by one of the partner agencies that an error had occurred related to their initial identification, and that the referral to HRP was made in error,” the police release said. “HRP confirms that there will be no charges laid in this case, and all related processes have been voided. HRP acted swiftly and in good faith as soon as the new information came to light. We recognize and regret the deeply negative impact of an unfortunate error of this nature.”
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia issued a statement on their website on Monday about the mistake, saying the Halifax provincial court vacated Dr. David Barnett’s undertaking and attached conditions.
“The Crown has notified the College that law enforcement wrongly identified Dr. Barnett as a person possessing for the purposes of distributing child pornography,” Dr. Gus Grant, registrar & CEO of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia, said in the release on the website. “An individual of similar name, with a similar email address, has been arrested in relation to these facts in the state of Ohio. This is a case of mistaken identity.
“There is no evidence whatsoever connecting Dr. Barnett to matters related to child pornography.”
An interim suspension of Barnett's medical licence, put in place on Dec. 4, was removed.
In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Grant said he felt “terribly sorry for Dr. Barnett, who has had his name unfairly connected to this awful crime.”
He added that this has happened through no fault whatsoever on Barnett's part.
“I've reached out to Dr. Barnett and to legal counsel and advised that the College would be more than happy to assist in whatever way possible to clear his name, and to restore his reputation in the eyes of the profession and the eyes of the public,” Grand said. “We're not sure how to do that. This is uncharted territory for the College and for myself.”
He said he hopes the acknowledgment of the mistake gets broadly seen by the public.
Barnett was not available for comment.
