A former pediatrician in Pennsylvania has been sentenced to at least 79 years in prison for sexually assaulting 31 children, most of them his patients.

According to the office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General, Dr. Johnnie Barto, a resident of Johnstown, Pa., used his pediatric practice to sexually abuse children for decades, prosecutors said. Survivors include boys and girls, most between ages 8 and 12. In one case, his victim was an infant.

For decades, his abuse was hidden. Survivors of childhood sexual abuse at his hands—now adults—have come forward with their own stories of his abuse. Survivors recounted in minute detail the events of their assaults, and are still affected today by issues like depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and more.

So how was this abuse hidden for so long? Survivors say that Barto spent decades building up his reputation in the community so that no one would believe any allegations against him, even when they were perfectly true. Essentially, Barto was grooming the community to take his side.

This is perhaps best illustrated by this chilling fact: his 2018 arrest was not the first time Barto was accused of molesting children. In 2000, Barto appeared in front of the Pennsylvania Board of Medicine on allegations that he molested two young girls in the 1990s.

Instead of taking the matter seriously, regulators threw the case out, saying that the claims were “incongruous to his reputation.” Barto was allowed to keep practicing medicine for nearly two decades more.

After his recent arrest, Barto told authorities that when the medical board cleared him back in 2000, he felt “invincible.” The state attorney general’s office notes that Barto, now 71 years old, sexually assaulted at least a dozen more of his young patients between being cleared in 2000 and his January 2018 arrest.

Barto also pleaded guilty to the sexual abuse of two of his own family members.

“Dr. Barto used his position of authority as a pediatrician, the family doctor relied on to treat and heal their children, to feed his own sick desires,” said Attorney General Josh Shapiro in a news conference after the sentencing.

“We will hold child sexual predators accountable for their crimes in Pennsylvania, whenever we find them – in a school, in a church, or in a family’s doctor’s office,” Shapiro said.

Filing a Childhood Sexual Abuse Lawsuit

If you are a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, you may be able to pursue litigation, even if the abuse in question took place years or decades ago. Many states have no limit on claims made by survivors of childhood sexual abuse, and others allow survivors decades to bring claims forward.

But in Pennsylvania and New York, there have been strict time limits, which has prevented may survivors of childhood sexual abuse from coming forward and holding abusers like Barto accountable for their actions.

In both Pennsylvania and New York, lawmakers are making moves to lift these restrictions and allow survivors more time to come forward. In New York, survivors of childhood sexual abuse had until the age of 23 to file criminal or civil charges. Now, victims have until 28 to file criminal charges, and until the age of 55 to file civil charges.

In Pennsylvania, lawmakers hope to make similar changes to Pennsylvania sexual abuse law by passing a law to reform the statute of limitations, allowing more time to bring predators to justice.

Join a Free New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania Sexual Assault Lawsuit Investigation

If you suffered sexual abuse as a child in either New Jersey, New York or Pennsylvania by someone at a public or private institution, legal help is available. Fill out the free form on this page for more information.

Learn More

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.