ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Action News Jax is hearing from the former and longtime patients of Dr. Daniel Donofrio, who was arrested on Thursday by the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office on 26 charges of having child sexual abuse material in his house.
We found internet archives showing Donofrio has worked at Flagler Family Medicine and Crescent Beach Care in St. Augustine, two family practices. His practitioner profile through the Florida Department of Health shows his license is still active, but his status was updated Friday to show he was “no longer practicing.”
The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office said Donofrio had thousands of pictures and videos of child sexual abuse material on “multiple electronic devices” in his home. Deputies said they found three terabytes’ worth of the material. The technology company TechTarget says three terabytes can hold more than 1,500 hours of video and at least 390,000 pictures.
Read: St. Augustine family doctor arrested for child sexual abuse material possession
“I told everybody I didn’t like this guy,” said Nicole Attebury, one of Donofrio’s former patients.
Attebury tells Action News Jax she recently saw Dr. Donofrio because of concerns about her weight. She claims that, instead of getting help, she was body shamed.
“He started telling me, ‘well, my wife’s about your age and you know, she just goes to pilates, maybe you need to do that,’” Attebury said, “and, you know, then he said ‘I don’t really know what the issue is with your generation wanting everything easy.’”
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Action News Jax found that, at last check, Donofrio is still in the St. Johns County jail.
“I was totally floored when I saw this,” said Jim Watson, who tells Action News Jax he’s been seeing Dr. Donofrio for the last 15 years and has known him since before he became a doctor.
“I always thought he was a very good doctor and was very helpful,” Watson said, “you can’t believe somebody like that would do that.”
We reached out to Flagler Family Medicine and Crescent Beach Care for responses to the arrest. Crescent Beach Care told us over the phone that they wouldn’t be able to respond. We missed a call from Flagler Family Medicine after reaching out and getting sent to voicemail, but when we called back, the office hung up.
We’re still working to learn the next time Donofrio will appear before a St. Johns County judge.
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