Roughly 30 hours after one of its nurse practitioners was arrested by the FBI at his downtown Onley home on charges of distributing child pornography, Eastern Shore Rural Health has not addressed the issue, condemned his alleged actions, or sought to distance itself from the accused man.
Lucas Allen Fussell, 42, of 25527 Coastal Blvd., was arrested in a morning raid Tuesday, July 16, by the FBI and charged with distribution of child pornography.
Court documents show he shared explicit genitalia descriptions of male adult and child patients he saw at the Onley Community Health Center, where he was employed.
Rural Health, the Eastern Shore’s largest healthcare provider with 34 medical providers on staff and almost 91,000 medical visits in 2023 alone, has not responded to an email and repeated calls from the Eastern Shore Post for comment as of 4:45 p.m. Wednesday.
One caller to the Post who would not give his name but identified himself as a patient of Fussell’s said Rural Health had not reached out to him regarding the case.
Rural Health also has not addressed the issue on its website, although Fussell’s photograph and biography were removed from the website roughly 24 hours after his arrest.
Fussell made an initial court appearance Tuesday and was jailed pending a hearing scheduled for Friday, July 19, at 2:30 p.m. in U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia.
While it is unknown whether pornographic images Fussell allegedly shared included his patients, documents reveal Fussell shared detailed descriptions of his patients on an encrypted messaging device.
Fussell, who joined Rural Health in 2012, worked at the Onley Community Health Center, where he was listed as a nurse practitioner clinical director and family nurse practitioner, according to a short biography that was on the Rural Health corporate website.
A criminal complaint and arrest warrant filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which was obtained by the Eastern Shore Post, shows Fussell allegedly:
Admitted to having a sexual relationship with a man who was a patient while also seeing the man’s wife as a patient.
Described in coarse, graphic detail the genitalia of a male patient who became erect while getting a genital exam.
Described the genitalia of a father and sons he saw as patients, saying the erection of an 11-year-old was “so hot.”
Spoke to the length he took to avoid online detection, including using a virtual private network.
See continuing coverage in Friday’s edition of the Eastern Shore Post.
