Search continues for Merced doctor charged with child molestation

The search continues for a Merced doctor who apparently skipped town after he was ordered to stand trial for allegedly molesting three autistic children and secretly recording people using the restroom at an area clinic.

Dr. Carlos G. Teran Miranda failed to appear in court June 9 and has not had contact with law enforcement since, according to Michael McKinney, the Merced County deputy district attorney prosecuting the case.

“The case has already been filed, so there’s no statute of limitations,” McKinney said. “By absenting himself he’s waived his right to a speedy trial and it will stay open until he’s back here.”

The 35-year-old pediatrician at Golden Valley Health Centers in Merced has pleaded not guilty to molesting three autistic children and to hiding a video camera in a patient restroom and filming people, including children, using the bathroom.

Teran Miranda posted a $475,000 bail bond through ABBA Bail Bonds in Merced and was released from custody May 26, just a few hours after he was ordered to stand trial in the case by Judge David W. Moranda. A $3 million warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Merced police Capt. Bimley West said the warrant will register in any law enforcement database in the United States.

“If he is stopped and they run his name, they will be alerted that he’s wanted here,” West said.

West encouraged anyone with information regarding Teran Miranda’s whereabouts to contact police immediately.

Teran Miranda was arrested Feb. 3 after a camera hidden in a flower arrangement was discovered on the back of a toilet in the clinic’s pediatric unit.

Footage taken from the camera showed Teran Miranda setting the device into the arrangement and several people, including children, using the restroom, according to a Merced police report.

Prosecutors on May 11 charged the pediatrician with three felony counts of committing lewd acts upon a child. Investigators said two boys, ages 6 and 8, and a 10-year-old girl were molested by the pediatrician during medical examinations in fall 2014.

If convicted, Teran Miranda faces up to 12 years and eight months in prison and would be forced to register as a sex offender for life, prosecutors confirmed.

The Medical Board of California also has been investigating the case.

According to California Department of Consumer Affairs online records, Teran Miranda graduated from the Greater University of San Simón in Bolivia in 2004.

This story was originally published June 22, 2015 at 6:18 PM with the headline "Search continues for Merced doctor charged with child molestation."