Malachi Love-Robinson
| Malachi Love-Robinson | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 12, 1997[1] West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. |
| Other names | Dr. Love |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| Criminal penalty | 42 months (3.5 years) in maximum security prison |
Malachi Alexander Love-Robinson (born May 12, 1997) is an American fraudster best known for impersonating as a trained medical doctor on multiple occasions while a teenager.[2]
Fake doctor[edit]
Love-Robinson's first attempt at impersonating a doctor came in January 2015 when he wandered the halls of St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida dressed as a doctor with a white labcoat and stethoscope, mostly occupying the OB-GYN department of the hospital. He treated no patients or had access any patient care areas.[3] Love-Robinson was aged 17 at the time so, as a minor, his name was not released in press coverage and he only received a warning from the police. Despite being seventeen at the time, Love-Robinson asserted that he had been a doctor for years, calling himself "Dr. Robinson", and later claimed that he had merely been requesting to shadow physicians. Love-Robinson's impersonation of a doctor as a teenager was compared to the character of Frank Abagnale, a teenager who also impersonated a doctor, in the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can.
His second attempt went further than the first when, in January 2016, he rented out office space in a medical building at 4700 N. Congress Avenue in West Palm Beach and created his own medical practice named the "New Birth New Life Holistic Alternative Medical Center & Urgent Care".[4] Love-Robinson created a NBNL website, Facebook page, and established an account for himself on the doctor rating website HealthGrades.org with fake reviews and professional headshots. A news crew visited Love-Robinson's medical office, but rather than telling them to leave, he invited them back to for a tour of the office. When the news crew came back the next day, Love-Robinson claimed that he was only practising homeopathic medicine but it was discovered that the suffix M.D. on his office nameplate was covered with tape. Love-Robinson also displayed a falsified degree from the University of Arizona on his office wall. An undercover cop posed as a patient and Love-Robinson carried out a physical examination and gave medical advice.[5] Giving medical advice gave the pretense for Love-Robinson to be arrested by the cops as that qualifies as the crime of practicing medicine without a license. Love-Robinson was arrested in February 2016 for falsifying his medical license and misleading patients after the police sting operation caught him violating Florida law. In Florida, practicing medicine without a license is a third-degree felony.[2]
After his arrest in February 2016, Love-Robinson was interviewed on ABC's Good Morning America but he left the interview after he thought the questions were becoming too accusatory.[6]
Fraud and larceny[edit]
Love-Robinson was accused of cashing checks from an 86-year-old woman after visiting on a house call. Love-Robinson had visited the woman on mutiple house calls and sold her vitamins but the woman's condition became so unbearable that she had call an ambulance to go to the hospital. Love-Robinson persuaded the woman to leave her purse and keys behind so that he could lock up her house for her. The checks cashed totalled $2,794 in addition to the $3,494 she paid him for the doctor visits and vitamins.[7]
In September 2016, in Stafford County, Virginia, Love-Robinson was arrested after being accused of fraud for trying to buy a Jaguar car worth $35,000 with the help of an elderly co-signer without her knowledge. The elderly woman was his godmother and he used her name and Social Security number on the loan without her understanding.[8]
Criminal charges and prison[edit]
In May 2017, Love-Robinson was sentenced for his fraud and larceny charges committed in Virginia and was sentenced by a Stafford County judge to five years in prison.[9]
For his charges in Florida, Love-Robinson agreed to plea deal for a reduced prison sentence where he plead guilty to grand theft, practicing medicine without a license and fraud charges in January 2018.[10]
Prison sentence[edit]
For his crimes of larceny in Virginia, Love-Robinson served a one year sentence in a prison in Virginia. For his crimes of impersonating a doctor, practicing medicine without a license and theft in West Palm Beach, Florida, Love-Robinson was sentenced to serve a 3.5 year sentence in a maximum security prison outside Fort Myer. While imprisoned in Florida, Love-Robinson gave an interview to Inside Edition in 2018 in which he said he was a "young kid that got overly ambitious and just said to hell with the rules and regulations". He admitted that he still wanted to be a physician someday.[11] In September 2019, Love-Robinson was released from prison in Florida after serving 20 months of his 3.5-year sentence.[12]
References[edit]
- ↑ State of Florida Department of Health (2016). "Unlicensed Activity Investigative Report" (PDF). Retrieved March 17, 2021.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Rogers, Katie (February 17, 2016). "Florida Teenager Is Accused of Posing as a Doctor. Again". The New York Times. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
- ↑ "Teen caught pretending to be a doctor at Fla. clinic". CBS News. January 19, 2015. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
- ↑ "Malachi Love-Robinson: 'Fake doctor' suspect asks for privacy". BBC News. February 18, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
- ↑ Smalls II, C. Isaiah (September 25, 2019). "He was known as Dr. Love as he saw patients. The tricky teen is now a free man". Miami Herald. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
- ↑ "Florida Teen Accused of Posing as Doctor Denies Diagnosing Patients". ABC News. February 18, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
- ↑ Quesada, Michelle (February 18, 2016). "Woman, 86, claims teen 'doc' forged her checks". WPTV. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
- ↑ Freeman, Marc (January 16, 2021). "One fraud after another for teen 'Dr. Love' who faked being a doctor". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
- ↑ Watts, Amanda (May 23, 2017). "Fake teen doctor sentenced in fraud case". CNN. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
- ↑ Tintner, Jennifer (January 17, 2018). "Love and deception: How a fake teen doctor ended up behind bars". WPTV. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
- ↑ "Phony Doctor Malachi Love-Robinson Claims He Only Wanted to Help People". Inside Edition. August 31, 2018. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
- ↑ Associated Press (September 25, 2019). "'Dr. Love': Florida man who faked being a teen doctor freed from prison". USA Today. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
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