ALLEGED SEX RING Neurosurgeon James Kohut, MD, and nurses Emily Stephens and Rashel Brandon, RN, MSN, were arrested for their roles in an alleged child sex ring.

JAMES KOHUT, MD, and nurses Emily Stephens and Rashel Brandon, RN, MSN, were arrested for their roles in an alleged child sex ring.

A California neurosurgeon and 2 nurses could spend the rest of their lives behind bars if highly disturbing allegations of child sex abuse prove true.

James Kohut, MD, 57, has been jailed without bail in Santa Cruz, Calif., accused of engaging in various sex acts with a boy and a girl younger than 10, and a boy younger than 14. He faces 10 felony charges in all, 6 of which carry potential life sentences.

The arrest of Dr. Kohut was the 3rd of 3 arrests that police say involved a ring of sex offenders who were allegedly working together.

Previously arrested were Rashel Brandon, RN, MSN, 42, of Watsonville, Calif., and Emily Stephens, 29, a Tucson, Ariz., travel nurse. Police say that on May 9, a Watsonville resident — reportedly Ms. Brandon's husband — provided a video of the nurses having sex with children as young as 3. Both have been charged with numerous felonies involving children between the ages of 3 and 13. Ms. Stephens is jailed in Arizona, and is fighting extradition to California, where Ms. Brandon is being held.

Police say 7 children have been taken into protective custody as a result of the charges.

The video of the nurses led to allegations that Dr. Kohut had also sexually abused boys and girls multiple times since Jan. 1, 2016, according to news reports. Police later seized "multiple items of evidence" at a house owned by Dr. Kohut and arrested him in Santa Cruz. Authorities are said to be searching other homes "associated to" Dr. Kohut, including one in Tucson, where Ms. Stephens worked. Dr. Kohut and Ms. Brandon had previously both worked at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz.

Dr. Kohut recently took a position with Sparks Clinic Neuroscience Center in Fort Smith, Ark, but was reportedly fired after his arrest. In addition to Dominican Hospital, he'd also previously practiced at Sutter Maternity and Surgery Center in Santa Cruz.

California police did not release details about the relationship among the defendants, but the 3 were involved in a complex and vengeful love triangle, according to multiple reports. A Tucson outlet, citing an arrest warrant, says Ms. Brandon told detectives that Ms. Stephens was blackmailing Dr. Kohut, and that Dr. Kohut had asked Ms. Brandon to help him blackmail Ms. Stephens. Ms. Brandon came up with the idea of shooting a video of Ms. Stephens having sex with minors, according to the report.

The report goes on to say that pages with pictures of the acts were found at Ms. Brandon's home, along with the words, "James Kohut made me do this." The report also says that an associate of Ms. Stephens had accused Ms. Brandon of texting Ms. Stephens and threatening to call the police on her.

A KSBW-TV report says that when police searched Ms. Stephens's Arizona home, they found handwritten notes from Dr. Kohut and bills paid by him, in addition to the videos of Ms. Brandon and Ms. Stephens.

"Dr. Kohut is a renowned neurosurgeon," his lawyer, Nick Cvietkovich, tells a TV reporter. "He has spent his life saving the lives of others. This is not conduct that he would participate in. And I think at the end of the day, the evidence will show this is not true."

This isn't his first brush with controversy, however. In 2003, Dr. Kohut was disciplined for downloading pornography on computers at the University of Vermont Medical Center, where he finished his residency. Published reports also allege that he was fired by Dominican Hospital after making unwanted sexual advances toward nurses.

He was also reportedly disciplined for a wrong-site surgery in 2002, after he tried to remove a temporal aneurysm from the right side of a patient's head, despite X-rays that clearly showed the aneurysm was on the left side.

Jim Burger