BLOUNT COUNTY – A former Trussville doctor faces deportation after pleading guilty to attempting to meet a 17-year-old patient for sex two years ago.
Janaki Earla pleaded guilty on Friday to two counts of possessing obscene material portraying a kid under the age of 17 and one crime of first-degree human trafficking. Earla, 60, was an internist at Wellness Medical Center in Trussville, but his medical license was suspended by the Alabama Medical Licensure Commission.
Earla was arrested on October 11, 2022, at the Days Inn hotel in Oneonta, where he planned to meet a 17-year-old patient for sex. However, the victim had reported Earla’s intentions to the police, who set up a sting operation at the motel to apprehend him. Earla, who told the woman that he wanted to be her “sugar daddy,” allegedly had booze and condoms on him.
As part of his plea deal, Earla was sentenced to 15 years in jail. He will only serve three years in prison and three years on supervised probation. If Earla breaches the terms of his probation, he will be compelled to return to jail to complete the balance of his sentence.
According to Assistant District Attorney Scott Gilliland, Earla’s immigration counsel stated that once his jail sentence is completed, he would be removed from the nation and returned to India.