3/12/2021- By Joseph Franklin
An 85-year-old former doctor has been convicted on sex abuse and child porn charges.
Shelby County District Attorney Jill Lee said Ruepert Don Bryan, a former ear, nose and throat physician in Alabaster, was convicted Wednesday after a three-day trial on charges of first-degree sex abuse and three counts of producing child pornography.
Shelby County sheriff’s officials in June 2016 issued a plea for information upon release photos of a then-unidentified man, saying he was a suspect “in a crime that would shock any member of our community.” “If this person is still alive, he is a threat to our communities,” the sheriff’s office stated in a release on that day.
Authorities later said Bryan, who lived in Calera at the time of his arrest, was developed as a suspect after a member of the community came forward with “an abandoned videotape.”
According to court records in the case, the videotape contained images of at least one juvenile engaging in sexual activity. The video was produced sometime in 2002. Bryan was also accused of sexually abusing at least one juvenile between May and August 2003, his arrest warrant stated.
During trial, Lee said, prosecutors presented evidence that included numerous recordings Bryan made of his child sexual abuse. “The jury also heard from multiple witnesses who were victimized by Bryan when they were children before the allegations came to light and he was brought to justice,’’ Lee said.
Sheriff’s investigators Robert Rodriguez and Heather Parramore led the investigation. Assistant district attorneys Daniel McBrayer and Ben Fuller prosecuted the case.
“We’re grateful for the victims who stepped forward to share their stories of abuse. It’s only through them that this day has finally arrived,’’ McBrayer said. “We also appreciate the members of the public who answered the sheriff’s call to help identify this abuser who was only a face on a video when the investigation first began.”
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