A former doctor from Newport Beach has admitted to possessing a disturbing collection of child sexual abuse material. Mark Albert Rettenmaier, 72, submitted a guilty plea for two counts of possession of child pornography, as detailed by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California. Rettenmaier, who now awaits sentencing, could face up to 20 years for each count, though a plea agreement suggests a recommendation of no more than five years.
Investigators began to closely scrutinize Rettenmaier after he uploaded CSAM to an Adobe cloud storage system in June 2020. The following month, they searched his house and found additional materials on both his phone and laptop. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California, this included "at least one video and 209 images of minors engaged in sexual activity." A statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each count looms over him, but the hinge point of the plea agreement may limit his incarceration significantly.
Rettenmaier, who is currently free on a $600,000 bond, will learn his fate later this year. United States District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett has scheduled the sentencing for August 6. The former gynecologist not only has to contend with prison time but also with a sizable restitution payment. As disclosed in the press release, Rettenmaier will have to pay at least $18,000 in total — $3,000 to each of the six victims.
