Rogers County K9 Assists In Arrest Of High-Profile Doctor In Ecuador

A Rogers County K9 and his handler just got home from a big mission overseas, helping arrest a high-profile doctor in Ecuador.

The doctor is accused of molesting his pediatric patients and creating child pornography of those patients and sharing it around the world.

K9 Rosco is trained to detect a specific chemical that’s on all electronic devices, that keeps them from overheating. After officers did a full search of the suspect's house in Ecuador and found all the evidence they could, Rosco went in and found even more evidence. He found two micro SD cards and a cell phone, hidden.

Ecuadorian police, U.S. law enforcement and national police arrested the well-known pediatrician Pablo Anibal at his home in Quito, Ecuador last week. Anibal had been under investigation since March, accused of creating child sexual abuse material of his patients who were eight to 12 years old. Investigators there needed help searching the doctor’s house for evidence, so that’s why Rogers County Lieutenant John Haning and K9 Rosco were called in to help.

"We just jumped at it and agreed to go,” said Lieutenant Haning.

When Rosco first got to Ecuador, a lot of the local officers didn't really believe he could find hidden electronic evidence, but he made believers out of them, quickly.

"Rosco was able to immediately hit on kind of a nightstand, a piece of furniture, and in that furniture, we were able to locate two USB drives, little micro SD drives that you would use in a camera," said Haning.

And in the next room, Rosco found a hidden cell phone.

Rosco was the first electronic storage detection K9 in Oklahoma, and he and Lieutenant Haning have been working together for more than a year. The two train twice a day every day. Rosco came from a non-profit group called OUR Rescue, the same group that paid for Rosco to go to Ecuador for this mission. Haning says these dogs are invaluable for these types of cases.

"It's always that one piece we could overlook that could contain evidence that could save that child or to find potential other victims, or to prosecute that offender. That's why it's so important we use Rosco as a secondary search,” said Haning.

In addition to retrieving valuable evidence, Rosco even gave emotional support to the suspect's 15-year-old daughter in the house.

"It really calmed her down to the point where she wasn't crying, she wasn't focused on the large amount of people in her house. She was more focused on what her and Rosco were doing as a companion,” said Haning.

Haning says he's proud of his work as an Oklahoman.

"Help children, that's the ultimate goal. For us to not only help fellow Oklahomans but to help our neighbors to the south,” said Haning.

OUR Rescue provides resources to law enforcement worldwide to go after child predators and rescue victims. They also provide resources to victims who are rescued during these operations.

OUR Rescue has plans to use Rosco for other missions in the future.

The suspect, Anibal, is facing 30 years in prison in Ecuador if convicted.