Attleboro Police arrest local doctor for paying juvenile for sex

As a result of a four-month-long investigation conducted by the Attleboro Police Department Detective Division, an arrest has been made in connection with an incident of commercial sexual exploitation of a child.

The lead investigator, Juvenile Detective Joseph Daday, initiated this investigation in December 2018 after receiving information that a 14-year-old male residing in the City of Attleboro had been sexually assaulted. As a result of Detective Daday’s initial investigation, it was determined that the juvenile had received cash in exchange for sexual activity from an adult male, thus being sexually exploited.

Through exhaustive investigative measures, including the execution of multiple search warrants on mobile devices and numerous social media accounts, it was learned that 37-year-old Sujan Kayastha had engaged in lengthy, sexually explicit communications with the juvenile victim. This communication with the victim included the transmission of images of child pornography. Kayastha then offered drugs, money, and alcohol to the juvenile, and made arrangements to meet with the victim and transport him to a hotel in Seekonk for the purposes of engaging in a sexual encounter.

During the course of the investigation, it was learned that Kayastha is a medical doctor, who is employed as a hospitalist at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

As a result of this lengthy and complex investigation, Detective Daday applied for and obtained an arrest warrant for Sujan Kayastha, as well as a search warrant for Kayastha’s residence in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.

On April 17, 2019, detectives from the Attleboro Police Department and Dartmouth Police Department, as well as investigators assigned to a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Task Force, executed the search warrant at Kayastha’s residence. Kayastha was located and arrested at his residence as well, without incident.

Upon being interviewed by investigators, Kayastha made admissions and incriminating statements.

Investigators seized multiple mobile communications devices, as well as suspected narcotics related to this investigation. An initial forensic preview of the devices indicated that they did, in fact, belong to Kayastha, and they did contain child pornography. The suspected narcotics will be sent to the crime lab for further analysis and identification.

Kayastha was transported to the Attleboro Police Department, where he was booked for the following charges:

Possession of child pornography
Disseminating obscene matter to a minor (two counts)
Electronic enticement of a child for prostitution (two counts)
Trafficking of a person for sexual servitude

Kayastha was held overnight with no bail, and was transported to Attleboro District Court for arraignment this morning (April 18).

There are aspects of this investigation which are still active and on-going, and further criminal charges may follow.