SANTA ANA – A federal judge has dismissed child pornography charges against a Newport Beach doctor, months after throwing out much of the evidence collected by investigators because of “false and misleading statements” made by an FBI agent.

U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney on Nov. 20 granted a motion by federal prosecutors to dismiss the indictment against Mark Albert Rettenmaier, ending a court case that drew national attention after it came to light that FBI agents were notified of an alleged image of child pornography on the doctor’s computer by Best Buy computer-repair technicians.

Carney in May ruled that an FBI agent who wrote an affidavit in support of a search warrant for Rettenmaier’s home “made several false and misleading statements or admissions” with “reckless disregard for the truth.”

During a hearing in the federal courthouse in Santa Ana, a U.S. attorney disagreed, saying the agent did nothing wrong.

The judge also found that the request for a warrant failed to note that the image found by computer-repair technicians that led to the investigation was in an area on the doctor’s computer where deleted files are kept, so he may not have been aware of it.

The ruling meant that evidence collected through the search warrant – which according to prosecutors included hundreds of images of what they described as child pornography on electronics in his home – could not be used in court.

Faced with the ruling, prosecutor’s ultimately decided to seek a dismissal of the case, Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, confirmed on Tuesday.

Attorney James Riddet, who represented Rettenmaier, said his client is “very pleased” by the decision to drop the charges. Rettenmaier, a Newport Beach-based gynecologic oncologist who at the time of his indictment was affiliated with Hoag Hospital, had to put his medical efforts on hold while facing trial, his attorney said.

“He is ecstatic. Anybody would be,” Riddet said, describing Rettenmaier as a renowned cancer surgeon. “Hopefully now he will be able to go back to practicing medicine.”

Technicians at a national Best Buy facility in Kentucky, known as Geek Squad City, discovered what prosecutors described as a photo of a naked, pre-pubescent girl while fixing the doctor’s broken computer and notified local FBI agents.

Rettenmaier’s attorneys challenged the legality of the computer search, leading Judge Carney to hold hearings where the defense could call witnesses to explore the relationship between the FBI and Best Buy.

During those hearings, several Best Buy employees testified that they occasionally run across what they believe to be child pornography in the course of their repairs. The employees said they felt they had a “legal and moral” obligation to report their findings to law enforcement.

An FBI agent acknowledged paying some Best Buy employees $500 for some of the tips, but denied asking them to do anything outside of their normal work duties.

Carney ultimately found that the Best Buy techs did nothing wrong.

The judge instead focused on the testimony of the FBI agent who first examined Rettenmaier’s computer, and who acknowledged during courtroom testimony that the photo the techs found was not “by itself” child pornography.

The agent described the image as depicting an underage girl on her knees on a bed wearing a choker-type collar.

While the image may have been “distasteful and disturbing,” the judge determined it was not child pornography but instead child erotica, “the viewing of which is not unlawful,” Carney said during a May hearing.

On Tuesday, Riddet didn’t comment on the alleged child pornography found through the warrant. The attorney said his efforts focused on challenging the collected evidence, because the case had not progressed to the trial stage when Rettenmaier would have had to challenge the merits of the prosecutor’s allegations.