A former Trussville physician who tried to be a 17-year-old patient’s “sugar daddy” has been sentenced to prison.
Dr. Janaki Earla, 60, pleaded guilty in May to two counts of possession or child pornography and one count of first-degree human trafficking.
Earla, whose medical license was suspended shortly after his 2022 arrest, was sentenced Monday morning to 15 years in prison with three years to actually serve behind bars by Jefferson County Circuit Judge Shanta Craig Owens, who was assigned to preside over the case after a Blount County judge recused himself.
Court documents said Earla will receive credit for time served since Oct. 11, 2022. His immigration attorney told the court he will be removed from the U.S. following his prison release.
Blount County Assistant District Attorney Scott Gilliland prosecuted the case. Earla was represented by attorney Victor Revill.
Earla was booked into the Blount County Jail Monday immediately after sentencing.
Earla was initially arrested almost two years ago when he had sexually explicit text conversations with the teen patient and then showed up to meet her at a Days Inn.
Once at the motel, however, Earla was met by law enforcement officers instead and taken into custody on a charge of first-degree human trafficking of a minor.
At the time, he was the doctor at the Wellness Center in Trussville.
The Blount County Sheriff’s Office launched the investigation Oct. 5 of that year when the mother of the 17-year-old female contacted investigators, according to court records.
On the previous day – Oct. 4 – her daughter was seen Earla. The teen girl told her mother that Earla had put the stethoscope on her breasts instead of above her breasts.
After the physical exam, authorities said in charging documents, Earla took the victim to his office and told her how beautiful she was and how pretty her hair was.
He then had the teen put her cell phone number in his cell phone. He texted her, “you can text me whenever you feel like.”
The next afternoon, the doctor texted the girl and asked her how she was feeling. He also texted, “Please promise me that you won’t tell anyone. I mean it.”
He also said, “Let’s keep it a secret and I won’t tell anything to anyone I promise. I respect your mom and dad, and this is between you and me.”
On Oct. 5, the girl’s mother gave law enforcement consent to search her daughter’s IPhone. The following day, the mother gave investigators permission to assume the teen’s identity online and on her electronic devices.
An undercover investigator with the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force continued to communicate with the doctor pretending to be the teen victim, telling him, “please don’t tell my parents.”
Over the course of the next two days, Earla corresponded with the undercover investigator whom he believed to be the teen, telling her that their conversations with top secret and asking that she delete the texts.
During the conversation, Earla told “the teen” that he would be her “sugar daddy” and take care of her. He even sent the definition of “sugar daddy,” which read “an older man who supports/provides for a younger woman (ex: financially) in return for companionship and/or sexual favors.”
The investigator, still pretending to be the teen, texted Earla, “So are you my Suggar daddy?”
Earla responded, “Yes. Love you baby.”
The investigator asked Earla, again via text, what he wanted to do to her, and what he wanted her to do to him, documents show. “I want you to play with me and own me. You can treat me like a lover,’’ the doctor replied.
He went on to write, “I took a risk and asked you to be my sugar baby. I was afraid to say, and you may freak out. I am a middle-aged sad man and you’re a bubbly senior in high school and about to (go to) college and one of my friends said that he had a sugar baby who is also a senior in school and she made a big difference in his life, and they had fun together and said that you will see a huge, nice experience.”
Earla, authorities said, tried to set up a location to meet with the teen. He suggested a movie theater where a non-English movie could be seen so there would not be many people there.
He said he couldn’t meet over the weekend but could on Monday or Tuesday. He suggested the Trussville Regal Theatre and sent a screenshot of the times a movie would be playing.
Earla, authorities said, initiated and engaged in long and detailed discussions about sexual things he wanted the teen to do to him. He talked about taking trips to Destin and supporting her financially.
He then said a movie theater may not be private enough, and suggested they meet at a Days Inn in Oneonta, records show. He made arrangements to meet the teen there at 6 p.m. after he closed his office, and promised to bring condoms, a pizza, alcohol and money for her.
Authorities said Earla knew the teen was 17 years old.
On Oct. 11, Earla traveled to the Days Inn to meet what he thought would be the teen girl. He brought with him a box of condoms, HPNOTIQ, Jose Cuervo, Jägermeister and a 12-pack of White Claw. He also had $386 in cash. Authorities said he had promised to give her $50.
Instead of finding the teen girl, Earla was met by law enforcement, where authorities say he admitted to the crime.
Earla was then arrested two months later on the child pornography charges.
Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey previously said the joint investigation was carried out by the Blount County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI’s Internet Crimes Against Children, an FBI Online Covert Employee, the Oneonta Police Department, the Homewood Police Department and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.
