Newspaper Page Text
Hall County doctor arrested on child sex charges
By Alvin Peabody
FCN Regional Staff
A Hall County doctor has
been arrested on federal charges
of traveling to Russia allegedly
to have sex with young boys.
As of 5 p.m. Tuesday,
Gregory C. Kapordelis of 2573
Bridgewater Circle still was in
federal custody in New York.
It is not known when he will
be returned to Georgia, U.S.
Attorney Bill Duffey said.
Telephone calls to
Kapordelis’ Gainesville home
went unanswered Tuesday
afternoon.
The doctor was taken into
custody about 4 p.m. Monday
after he arrived at New York’s
John F. Kennedy International
Airport on a flight from Russia.
He is charged with traveling
for the purpose of engaging in
illegal sexual conduct with a
minor.
The federal complaint
against the 43-year-old U.S. cit
izen says that between October
2003 and April 2004, he
engaged, or attempted to
engage, in sex acts with multi
ple Russian boys as young as 12
in a hotel room and rental prop
erty in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Kapordelis has been
employed since 1996 as chief of
anesthesiology at Health-South
Gainesville Surgery Center, the
complaint said. He also works
at Gainesville Anesthesia
Sen ices and owns Kapordelis
Management Systems. All three
have a 1945 Beverly Road
address.
Cathy Bowers, a spokes
woman for Northeast Georgia
Medical Center, said Ka
pordelis does not have privi
leges to practice at the hospital.
“He was on our staff years
ago, but he left to work at
HealthSouth," she said.
Northeast Georgia Health
Incident reports
Editor’s note: The following
items were taken from reports on
file with the Forsyth County
Sheriff's Office.
• Methamphetamine ar
rest: Justin Allister Cole, 23, of
Union Hill Road was charged
with possession of metham
phetamine on Saturday morn
ing.
A deputy noticed that Cole s
blue Honda had an expired tag
I and signaled
K| for Cole to
pull
f-j || the Shell gas
station
1 ed at 510
Browns
Kk Bridge Road
Cole told the
Cole deputy he had
no license or
insurance. The deputy con
firmed this information and dis
covered that Gwinnett County
had outstanding warrants for
Cole’s arrest. The deputy then
arrested Cole.
Before Cole was transported
to the Forsyth County
Detention Center, he asked the
deputy to retrieve his money
and cigarettes from the Honda.
When the deputy did so, he
found in the car seat two small
baggies containing a substance
identified as methamphetamine.
In addition to felony posses
sion of methamphetamine. Cole
was charged with three misde
meanors including driving with
a revoked license, no insurance
and an expired tag.
Cole was being held at the
Forsyth County Detention
Center on $6,300 bond as of
Tuesday afternoon.
• South Forsyth home bur
glarized: A Peachtree Court
subdivision resident reported
that more than SIB,OOO of his
possessions were stolen from
his home on April 12.
The owner of the Vinery
Avenue home reported the fol
lowing items missing: two
antique handguns; a jewelry
chest containing $200; a jewel
ry box with nine sets of cuff
links valued at $3,450; two
DVD players worth $400; a tel
evision/VCR valued at $214; a
Sony Play Station and 30
games worth $1,724; $5,000
worth of baseball cards includ
ing a Ty Cobb card valued at
$700; three gold chains worth
$1,100; a watch valued at $700;
about $5,000 in computer
equipment; and the back of a
new leather recliner the seat
was not stolen.
System owns the HealthSouth
building in partnership with a
group of local physicians.
"We have part ownership,
but we have no control over the
day-to-day operations or hiring
there," Bowers said.
Monday, two officials of the
U.S. Department of Homeland
Security assigned to the Atlanta
office of investigation inter
viewed two of Kapordelis' co
workers, head nurse Marie
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Hernandez and head adminis
trator Karen Fankhauser.
Neither woman could be
reached for comment Tuesday.
But in an affidavit filed in
the case, they said Kapordelis
usually takes one week of vaca
tion per month and when he
does, he travels within the
United States or to Russia,
Africa and the Czech Republic.
Also, Kapordelis has
brought children from these
countries to live with him for
periods of time, the women
said.
A report from the U.S.
Attorney’s office in Atlanta said
that Kapordelis is believed to be
the fifth person in the United
States to be charged with viola
tions of the child sex tourism
provisions of the “Protect Act
2003.”
“This arrest is a compelling
example of the top priority we
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Thursday, April 15,2004 -
place on the protection of chil
dren from sexual predators,”
Duffey said. ,
“It is also an example of the
now virtually routine coopera
tion between international
police organizations and law
enforcement officials,” he said.
Kapbrdelis was a member of
Young Life, a Christian organi
zation, and volunteered as camp
physician at summer camps in
North Georgia.
"Our investigation is ongo
ing and anybody who has any
information about Mr.
Kapordelis should get in contact
with us.” Duffey said.
Contact: Special Agent
Rodman Bergstrom at (404)
331-2762, Ext. 5321.
Alvin Peabody is a staff
writer for The Times in
Gainesville. Times' staff writer
Debbie Gilbert contributed to
this story.
PAGE 3A