Accused Fake Doctor, Wife Bond Out Of Jail
MIAMI (CBS4) – A Miami man accused of posing as a doctor at a Little Havana clinic and seeing patients bonded out of a Miami-Dade County jail Thursday night.
Teobaldo Humberto Fuentes, 46, is charged with Unlicensed Practice of a Health Care Profession, Practicing Medicine without a License, and Prescription Fraud. During hearing, bond was set at $5,000.
CBS4 News has learned that Fuentes' wife Jina Fuentes was also arrested on Thursday and charged with Practicing Medicine without a License. She has since bonded out.
Authorities allege the wife owned the Clinica la Caridad located at 285 NW 27th Avenue in Miami. The husband is accused of illegally treating patients there. Police believe most of his patients were children who may now be at risk of not having proper vaccinations for school.
Miami Police says the Fuentes' were taken into custody with the help of the department's Pharmaceutical Diversion Taskforce, the Florida Department of Health's Unlicensed Activities Office and the US Food and Drug Administration's Office of Criminal Investigation.
Investigators armed with a search warrant raided the clinic Thursday evening. They seized everything from medicines to computer monitors.
CBS4's Natalia Zea went digging into the couple's past company history and learned that for years the couple has been busy starting corporations. State records show they started a condo association, a transportation company, did real estate management, and sold car wheels.
State records show they also started several different medical clinics around Miami.
Police believe they may have others in operation now.
La Clinica Caridad's website shows legitimate, licensed Doctor Ruben Nunez is Fuentes' supervisor at the La Caridad clinic. Investigators are also looking into Dr. Nunez' involvement.
Zea spoke to Dr. Nunez who said he was duped. He admits Fuentes paid him $1500 a month to serve as his supervisor. But he says Fuentes initially showed him a fake nurse practitioner license and he says Fuentes was never supposed to do services like gynecology. Dr. Nunez said he never monitored Fuentes' dealings, and he accuses of Fuentes of forging his signature on state documents.
Dr. Nunez also says that Fuentes told him he was a licensed doctor in Venezuela but police have found no proof of that. Either way, investigators say a Venezuelan license would not permit him to practice in the U.S.
A state database search on Fuentes found that he was licensed for one job in Florida; as a basic x-ray machine operator. That license expired 7 years ago.
Police want to speak with anyone who may have been treated by the pair. They are also urging those patients to contact a licensed medical professional for an examination.
Christian Arencibi went to the La Caridad Clinic Wednesday afternoon for a drug test to start a new job. He said a legitimate lab company referred him.
"(Practicing) without a license! He deserves to be in jail then, I'm sorry," Arencibi told CBS4′s Natalia Zea.
Arencibi said the clinic looked legitimate.
"Looked so professional, his nurses had a high vocabulary and he had all his diplomas on the wall."
Arencibi hopes no one is hurt from this.
"Hopefully it doesn't affect the job, hopefully my results go in and that's his problem. I just feel bad for the kids who come here and get their vaccines and the women who come for gynecology stuff and they don't have a certified doctor."
Anyone with additional information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS.
