A man who once served as NBC’s chief on-air medical correspondent in Los Angeles pleaded no contest Monday (March 6) to charges he solicited nude pictures from a child, after apologizing to the victim’s family and hugging her father inside a downtown courtroom.
Dr. Bruce Hensel, 74, sent repeated text messages to a 9-year-old girl asking her for “sexy and private” photos.
Hensel won 11 Emmys and two Golden Mike awards for his TV work and his LinkedIn profile says he is “considered by many to be the pre-eminent health journalist in America.”
Bruce pleaded no contest to one count of contacting a minor with the intent to commit a crime and was immediately ordered to register as a sex offender and sentenced to two years of probation.
Hensel was first arrested by Los Angeles police in 2019 on accusations that he contacted the 9-year-old daughter of an acquaintance and asked her for nude photos.
There was little doubt about Hensel’s guilt. A transcript of the text messages was included in a filing submitted to the state Medical Board last year, and showed Hensel repeatedly asking the girl for photos that were “sexy and private.”
But prosecutors and Hensel’s defense attorney, Leonard Levine, had been haggling over the terms of a plea deal for months.
© CopyRights RawNews1st
