When Dr. Jacques Lemire took his laptop to get fixed in January 2004, the technician made a disturbing discovery.

On his hard drive, Lemire had collected photos of what a judge described as “sadistic images” of “prepubescent boys” who were “engaged in sexually explicit conduct.”

The technician alerted authorities in San Diego, Calif., where Lemire had been treating children for 23 years. A criminal investigation confirmed he had also traded the images with others.

Read more on the Star’s Medical Disorder investigation

The California medical board revoked Lemire’s licence. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison after pleading guilty to possession and distribution of child pornography.

After he was released and deported to Canada, Quebec issued Lemire a new licence that allowed him to see patients.

His licence restricted him to working in “institutions” and Lemire spent three years at an old-age home for retired nuns. Nothing would have prevented Lemire from working with children, however — the institutions category also includes child and youth protection centres.

Today, Lemire’s licence restricts him to administrative duties. His criminal history does not appear on the registry of the Quebec college.

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He is one of 13 doctors the Star identified with criminal convictions in the U.S. who later practised in Canada.

Lemire says he has worked hard to rehabilitate himself and agrees with the Quebec college’s decision to keep his criminal history secret.

“The fact that I’m doing administrative (work), I’m not working with patients, I think (my criminal history) shouldn’t be disclosed because I’m not even close to any patient,” Lemire told the Star.

There is a brief note on his Quebec profile stating that he “was the subject, in the past, of a decision modifying his/her right to practise,” and providing a number to phone for more details. If you call, the college will not tell you what Lemire was disciplined for, where or when it happened.

Investigative reporters Diana Zlomislic and Rachel Mendleson discuss the doctors discipline investigation which took 18 months to complete.

But if you Google Jacques Lemire, his story is easy to find.

As a high-profile specialist in pediatric nephrology — the treatment of children’s kidney problems — Lemire’s guilty plea shocked the public and his colleagues at the University of San Diego. They wrote letters of support to the court, saying Lemire had never had any inappropriate contact with any of his patients.

After Lemire pleaded guilty, a judge at sentencing accepted a psychiatric evaluation showing Lemire was not a pedophile.

“Although Dr. Lemire is guilty of possession of child pornography, Dr. Lemire, according to the examining professionals, is not a pedophile,” said Judge Jeffrey Miller, according to a court transcript.

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“We’re dealing with someone here who I may assume is not a pedophile and who has had no inappropriate contact with children himself even though certainly over the years he has had occasion if that had been his proclivity.”

Then why did he do it? Lemire’s lawyer Ezekiel Cortez in court blamed the doctor’s Catholic upbringing in Quebec.

“He went to catechism. He attended church functions,” said Cortez. “He was an altar boy, and what I can tell the court is that experiences as he grew up contributed to a part of his personality that he had to confront with this case.”

“I’m very ashamed of what I did,” Lemire said in court.

The pictures on Lemire’s computer, which he had traded with a man in Orange County, Calif., were of a particularly cruel nature.

“There’s just no explanation for it,” said federal prosecutor Anne Perry at his sentencing in California in 2007. “These are not pictures of naked babies lying on blankets … These are damaging pictures that represent abuse to children. And here is a fine man, a fine doctor, somebody who’s done nothing wrong in his life, but he’s got a lot of these images on his computer.”

Lemire’s 15-month sentence was light, according to the judge, who noted another defendant had been sentenced to five years for the same crime in a nearby county. Lemire was added to the California’s registry of sexual offenders. His name and photo were removed from the registry after he was released and deported in 2008.

Back in Quebec, where he had gone to medical school, Lemire reapplied to be a doctor.

To reactivate his Quebec licence, Lemire says he was required to do “rotations” in hospital settings with a supervising physician present. In July 2010, the Quebec college issued Lemire medical licence that limited his practice to “an institution.”

The Quebec college defines an institution as “a local community service centre, a hospital centre, a child and youth protection centre, a residential and long-term care centre or a rehabilitation centre,” adding that Dr. Lemire’s “limitation was not aimed at a specific institution.”

He was not formally prevented from working with children.

From 2010 to 2013, Lemire worked at the Jacques-Viger residential and long-term-care centre, which housed retired nuns. In 2014 the college stripped Lemire’s right to treat patients, limiting his licence to administrative duties. He now reviews medical files for Quebec’s public health insurance program.

Lemire told the Star he has served his time and should be allowed to “keep going and be productive.”

“The problem is you go through something like this. It’s terrible. You paid what you have to do to society. Then it’s hard. You lose everything and restart from scratch. Look for a job. It’s a long ordeal,” Lemire said.

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