West Palm Man Posing As A Doctor Charged In Virginia

As a previous post highlighted, white-collar crimes can be serious charges, resulting in a defendant’s personal and professional reputation being damaged even if the accused is not convicted. Financial crimes have a tendency of remaining in a person’s background, thereby causing it to be difficult to overcome a past charge. Thus, it is important that those accused of a white-collar crime understand what they can do to limit the impact these allegations could have.

Based on recent reports, a Virginia court handed a 10-year prison sentence to a young South Florida man. He was charged for illegally posing as a doctor in West Palm Beach. However, the 20-year-old man was arrested after he attempted to purchase a Jaguar from a car dealership in Virginia. Supposedly, he used the personal information of a 73-year-old woman to make this purchase.

While he was charged with a 10-year sentence for one count of false statement to obtain credit and a forgery charge. After making a plea deal, prosecutors dropped two other charges for the attempt to commit identity theft and attempt to obtain money under false pretenses. This resulted in his 10-year sentence turning into a one-year sentence.

However, reports indicate that his sentence required him to prove 10 years of good behavior. Any new arrests could result in a lengthy prison sentence. Now that the man is facing crimes of fraud that stem from him posing illegally as a medical professional, he is facing charges that could be punishable by up to 90 years in prison.

Crimes of fraud and theft could carry with them serious penalties. Because of that, defendants should understand their situation, what potential outcomes could occur and what defense mechanism are available. This could help the accused reduce or dismiss some or all of the charges against them.

Source: Sun-sentinel.com, “Accused teen ‘doctor’ sentenced to year on Va. fraud charges,” Marc Freeman, May 22, 2017