KU Med administrator subject of child porn investigation led by feds: court records
Editor’s note: The following story contains graphic depictions of sexual violence involving children.
A top administrator for the University of Kansas Medical Center is being investigated by the Department of Homeland Security on suspicion of possessing child pornography and sharing the illicit videos and pictures with others online.
Bardia Behravesh, the associate dean of graduate medical education, is named as the subject of the federal investigation in an application for a search warrant filed with the U.S. District of Kansas. Court records show an agent with DHS served the warrant at the Prairie Village home of Behravesh early Thursday morning.
Court records indicate that Behravesh, 44, has not been charged with a crime. Federal agents allege in an affidavit unsealed this week that he posted dozens of illicit videos and expressed a sexual desire for children as young as eight years old during online conversations with undercover officers.
Agents connected the posts to Behravesh based on information obtained from online accounts that revealed access from several internet protocol, or IP, addresses. One of the addresses was linked to Behravesh’s personal residence and another to his job at the University of Kansas Medical Center at 3901 Rainbow Boulevard in Kansas City, Kansas.
Behravesh declined to comment when reached Wednesday morning.
Kay Hawes, a spokeswoman for the University of Kansas Medical Center, said the allegations were serious and that they are awaiting additional information.
“While we cannot comment on allegations such as this, KU Medical Center expects its employees to conduct themselves lawfully and appropriately,” she said in a statement.
Federal investigation
According to the affidavit, the DHS investigation into Behravesh began in mid-March after agents in the Detroit office flagged an anonymous user posting videos and images that showed children being sexually abused. Information gathered by those agents centered on a user registered with the Kik platform — a free online messenger application available for download on most cellular devices — who went by the handle “jdkcmo.”
Messages originating from the user in a group chat included still images and short video clips that depicted prepubescent girls performing sexual acts.
Following on the tip, a Kansas City field agent discovered 67 videos that were posted in a public channel by the same user between Feb. 10 and Feb. 21. Some of the posts included links to an encrypted cloud-based platform where videos of child exploitation were advertised.
During a chat with an undercover federal agent, who posed as a sex offender, the jdkcmo user identified himself as a 44-year-old man from Kansas. During the exchange, when asked if he had ever “had young before,” the user replied: “No I wish.”
“I did get lucky with a 17yo (almost 18) when I was 39. She needed money,” the user added, followed by a laughing-face emoji.
In response, the undercover agent then talked about having sex with an 8-year-old girl and received the reply: “that’s … *hot!”
Online messages between undercover agents and the account linked to Behravesh continued over the span of roughly six weeks, the affidavit says. In some, the Kik user discussed going into work meetings or on lunch break.
On Valentine’s Day, for example, a post was made in a public Kik channel telling users to request videos, saying “I’m on lunch break and bored…help a brother.” Other users responded by asking for videos that depicted rape and seven videos were posted in the channel by the user, the affidavit says.
Videos originating from the account were also sent exclusively to an undercover agent during a private chat. Three showed a girl between the ages of 10 and 12 masturbating on camera. Another depicted a young girl being raped by a man in a vehicle “while the child is crying and resisting,” the federal agent wrote in the affidavit.
DHS requested companies provide user information associated with two user accounts: One from Kik and the other from MEGA Encrypted Global Access, which offers encrypted cloud storage services. Information from those accounts also led agents to suspect Behravesh was the poster of the videos, the affidavit says.
Search warrant at Prairie Village home
On March 31, agents drove by Behravesh’s house in Prairie Village and took notes of its attributes. In the application for the search warrant, the agent wrote that authorities were looking to seize any devices — including laptops, external hard drives or other electronics — where child pornography may be stored. A federal judge signed off on the warrant last week and it was served at 6:05 a.m. Thursday.
Court records reference a property inventory list of items to be seized as potential evidence such as computers and cellphones.
According to his LinkedIn webpage, Behravesh has worked for the University of Kansas Medical Center for more than 10 years. His roles there include his present one, assistant dean of graduate medical education administration, and as the assistant dean of graduate-level curriculum.
He has also worked as an adjunct professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Johnson County Community College, his LinkedIn page said.
This story was originally published April 20, 2022 at 9:29 AM.
