Long Beach doctor arrested after allegedly sending lewd photos to undercover officer posing as teen

Los Angeles police have arrested a Long Beach physician who allegedly sent a lewd photograph to an undercover officer posing as a 16-year-old girl on the internet.

Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Human Trafficking Unit arrested Jonathon Ellis, 35, after he contacted the undercover officer and sent her a sexually explicit image, the department said in a statement.

Ellis was arrested just after 9 a.m. Wednesday and booked into the LAPD’s 77th Street Community Police Station, according to inmate records from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Ellis studied medicine in Henderson, Nev., and currently is a resident physician in Long Beach, according to the LAPD.

Ellis has been charged with four felony counts of distributing or showing pornography to a minor and one misdemeanor count of arranging a meeting with a minor for lewd purpose, said Paul Eakins, a spokesman for the L.A. County district attorney’s office. Ellis, he said, is due in court in downtown Los Angeles for arraignment on May 2.

The LAPD is asking any potential victims to come forward and to contact Officer Aaron Korth or Det. Sammy Cruz at (213) 486-0910. Persons wishing to remain anonymous can call (800) 222-8477 or submit a tip to www.lacrimestoppers.org.

Ellis is being held in lieu of $85,000 bail, according to inmate records.

hailey.branson@latimes.com

Twitter: @haileybranson

UPDATES:

2 p.m. This article was updated with the specific charges against Jonathon Ellis from the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

This article was originally published at 11:40 a.m.