A Johnson County pediatric neurologist is accused in federal court of trying to produce child sex abuse material.

Brian Michael Aalbers is set to face a preliminary and detention hearing Tuesday at 1 p.m. at the federal courthouse in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, which oversees cases for the Western District of Missouri.

He is currently being held on one count of attempting to produce child sex abuse material, or child pornography.

A criminal complaint alleges that Aalbers “did knowingly employ, use, persuade, induce, entice and coerce a minor … to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct.”

The alleged crimes took place in Kansas City, Missouri, according to the complaint, and the material was produced between Dec. 28, 2020, and Oct. 28, 2023.

The sex abuse depictions Aalbers is alleged to have made were “produced using materials that had been mailed, shipped, and transported in and affecting interstate and foreign commerce,” thereby making it a federal case.

More details contained in criminal affidavit

Aalbers was arrested on Thursday, Nov. 16, following an investigation by the FBI and Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department.

It began when Kansas City Police were called to an address on Oct. 28, where an unidentified reporting party had “located concealed video cameras,” according to court records.

Aalbers soon arrived on the scene but did not give a statement to officers and was released at that time pending further investigation.

Details of the exact whereabouts of this incident and identifying information about the person who reported the cameras has been redacted from a criminal affidavit.

Later that same day, the reporting party reached out to police saying Aalbers “was sending [them] suicidal text messages.”

“I am going to jail/lose my license I do not want to die,” Aalbers is reported to have texted the person, according to the affidavit. “I do not want my kids to see me dead.”

A Kansas doctor with links Overland Park hospital

Aalbers is a doctor of osteopathy who has held a license in Kansas since 2014, according to the Kansas Board of Healing Arts.

He earned a degree in 2005 from Touro University in New York City.

A WebMD listing shows he specializes in Child Neurology and Pediatrics and has been affiliated with Overland Park Regional Medical Center.

Christine Hamele, a spokesperson for Overland Park Regional Medical Center said Aalbers is no longer affiliated with the hospital.

“We were devastated to learn about the allegations against Dr. Brian Aalbers, who is no longer affiliated with Overland Park Regional Medical Center or any of our facilities or clinics. There is no indication at this time that the allegations against Dr. Aalbers involve patients. We are assisting law enforcement in any way possible with their investigation,” Hamele said in an emailed statement Monday.

In an email Tuesday morning, Aalbers’s attorney Gregory Watt of The Watt Law Firm in Kansas City, said “our team is working tirelessly to gather each and every necessary detail in order to give Dr. Aalbers a comprehensive defense.”

“The allegations, while indeed serious, are simply allegations, and we need to remember that fact,” Watt said. “Each and every one of us retains certain rights while in a court of law, including, and especially, the right to be presumed innocent.”

Aalbers picked up at a Lenexa hotel, sent to AdventHealth

After the initial reported incident on Oct. 28, the affidavit goes on to say that Lenexa Police were dispatched to a Radisson Hotel, where they found Aalbers and transported him to AdventHealth Shawnee Mission in Merriam to “obtain voluntary mental health treatment.”

Security at the hospital took possession of two of Aalbers’ laptops, two iPad tablets and a cell phone inside a backpack Aalbers had with him as he entered the facility.

By Oct. 30, the same reporting party contacted Kansas City Police again, saying Aalbers had contacted them requesting they come to AdventHealth to retrieve his backpack and electronic devices.

“The reporting party stated Aalbers asked [sic] to destroy these items because there was ‘bad stuff’ present on the devices,” the affidavit says.

20,000 videos found, multiple victims identified

On Oct. 30, investigators secured a search warrant and conducted another search at a location the details of which are redacted from the affidavit. But there, law enforcement recovered two more Apple MacBook computers, an SD card and a camera with another SD card enclosed.

In addition, a broken camera with another SD card was also discovered.

All these devices, the affidavit says, were owned by Aalbers.

On Nov. 6, a federal judge issued a search warrant allowing investigators to access these electronic devices.

The seized devices were taken to the Heart of America Regional Forensics Computer Laboratory.

Some of the videos accessed during the analysis show Aalbers “appearing to set up or maneuver the cameras on numerous occasions, adjusting the cameras’ angles of views,” the affidavit says.

In total, the forensic lab reported to investigators that over 20,000 videos were identified on one of Aalbers’ MacBooks, spanning the time from December 2020 to October 2023.

Identifying information about some of the victims is redacted from the affidavit, but it says “approximately 10 to 12 additional minor victims” were seen in the recordings, with one or two observed in “states of nudity.”

Law enforcement, the affidavit notes, is trying to identify these victims.