Former Sandy Springs doctor admits to alleged sexual abuse

NORTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — A former Sandy Springs doctor, now serving 25 years in prison for child molestation, has admitted he sexually abused three children and three women, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard exclusively told Channel 2's Mike Petchenik.

Some are now questioning why Kelly Thrasher wasn’t behind bars before trial, which investigators say allowed him to victimize one more child while out on bond.

Last month, Thrasher pleaded guilty to molesting a 7-year-old girl, his daughter’s best friend, at a sleepover at his home in 2013.

"Over the past two years I've made multiple mistakes, and I've exhibited multiple episodes of bad judgment,” Thrasher said just before sentencing.

Howard told Petchenik that Thrasher’s girlfriend sent investigators a chilling letter he wrote to her, in which he admitted to the crimes and talked about why he committed them.

Howard said the hand-written letter was in code.

“We were able to break the code based on the information we received and so for…one of the first times in our office, we had the opportunity to really look into the mind of someone who is a child molester,” said Howard.

Howard said Thrasher admitted he chose his victims based on their accessibility.

“The high, he said, came from the wrongness of the act,” said Howard.  “(The) defendant…is clearly, in my view, a sexual predator.”

Howard agreed to a sit-down interview after Petchenik sent him questions and concerns raised by neighbors about how the Thrasher case was handled.

Neighbors emailed Petchenik after Thrasher’s sentencing to express anger that he was allowed to be free on bond, and while free, allegedly molested the other child.

DeKalb County police tell Petchenik they have taken warrants against Thrasher for molesting a child there in May 2014.

An incident report Petchenik obtained said the victim was Thrasher’s girlfriend’s daughter.

“It seems to me that if people paid attention when they should have, perhaps the little girl in Dekalb County would not have been victimized,” said former neighbor Richard Kopelman.

Kopelman told Petchenik he and others contacted the district attorney’s office in the days after Thrasher made bond after his January 2013 arrest when they saw him at their children’s school and other locations frequented by kids.

“(“The) neighborhood swim-tennis club, he would be there as well, again around children, and again without anyone understanding why he had the right to be there having been charged with child molestation,” he said.

WSB-TV legal analyst Phil Holloway told Petchenik that Thrasher’s bond should have included conditions banning him from contact with kids, but did not.

“I’ve never seen a child molestation bond that did not include a requirement to stay away from all children,” he said.

Howard told Petchenik his office opposed any bond for Thrasher, but he has no record indicating his assistant district attorney asked for conditions other than no contact with the victim.

He said after his office heard from neighbors and law enforcement officials about Thrasher’s contact with kids, they filed a motion asking Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford to modify the bond conditions.

“In August 2013, we asked the court to modify the bond to include language that would prohibit him from having contact with any children at all,” said Howard.

Howard provided Petchenik with an email his office sent to Bedford’s staff requesting a hearing, with a response indicating they would have to “get back to them” with a date.

“The court never set the day for the hearing,” Howard said.

Petchenik asked why Howard’s office never followed up with Bedford to request another hearing.  Howard said they didn’t want to badger the judge.

Holloway contends, had Howard’s office pushed for a hearing, Thrasher might have ended up back in jail sooner for violating the terms of his bond.

"Prosecutors don't have clients in the traditional sense but they are required to be zealous advocates for the State in general and to represent the interests of victims and potential victims,” he said.  “It would have been a simple task to insist that their motion be heard.”

In January 2013, Sandy Springs police arrested Thrasher, this time for practicing medicine without a license.

On the very same day, Howard said his office filed a motion asking Bedford to revoke the bond because committing a new crime is a violation of the bond order.

“The judge would not revoke his bond and Dr. Thrasher was allowed to return to his home,” said Howard.  “After he obviously decided not to follow the law, we thought that he should have been arrested.”

Three months after a hearing in which Bedford ruled he wouldn’t revoke bond, police said Thrasher molested the girl in DeKalb County.

Petchenik asked Howard if he thought Bedford dropped the ball.

“Judges have to make tough decisions,” he said.  “My decision would have been to put him in jail.”

Petchenik reached out to Bedford for comment.  A court public information officer sent him the following statement on his behalf.

“The Court does not have a comment at this time as Mr. Thrasher has a pending case in a neighboring jurisdiction.”

Holloway believes someone didn’t do their job.

“I think it’s a function of the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing,” he said. “There are a lot of different things that went into this.  The bottom line is, a lot of balls were dropped.”

Petchenik reached out to one of Thrasher’s criminal defense attorneys for comment.  Noah Pines emailed to say they couldn’t comment because of the pending case in DeKalb County.

WSBTV