Florida teenager Malachi Love-Robinson, accused of being a fake doctor, has been ordered to go for a mental health evaluation by Palm Beach County Judge Joseph Marx within 48 hours after being arrested again Wednesday for allegedly stealing over $34,000 from an 86 year-old patient, Yahoo News is reporting .
Judge Marx ordered him to stop practicing medicine and not contact any of his victims again. He did not speak and refused to enter a plea.
Deputies said the fake teen doctor allegedly used the fleeced funds to make credit card and car payments. He faces five counts of using another person’s identification without consent, and one count of larceny. Police say he defrauded the woman, Anita Morrison, of over $35,000 after she complained of severe stomach pains.
She claims that Robinson called an ambulance to take her to the hospital, but suggested that she leave her purse behind because of the emergency. According to Ms. Morrison, by the time she was discharged, her account had been emptied. Police say he had forged three checks to access her account. “Accusations are merely accusations, and services, you would have to define that. Whether she paid for me to just show up that’s up to her,” Robinson told the press.
Robinson, 18, was arrested last month for practicing medicine without a license after an undercover police officer posing as a patient visited his West Palm Beach clinic — The New Birth New Life Medical Center — complaining of sneezing, a parched throat, and lethargy. Robinson took the undercover officer’s temperature and used a stethoscope to check her lungs and heart. He told her she has allergies and offered an over-the-counter medication. He was arrested on grand theft charges and later posted a bail of $21,000.
We’re awaiting Malachi Love Robinson to walk out of the Palm Beach County Jail @CBS12 pic.twitter.com/r4v6rCad7u
— Greg Angel (@NewsGuyGreg) March 2, 2016
He told the media that “his intentions were pure,” and he never said he was a medical doctor. Referring to his treatment of the undercover female officer, he said “We put her in a triage room where we took her blood pressure, weight and temperature. There is no law that says you have to be a doctor to take someone’s blood pressure. This is a free country; anyone with funds can open a clinic,” he argued.
Robinson absolves himself of any wrongdoing and says he has a doctorate degree. Investigations reveal that it is a doctorate degree from the Universal Life Church that can be purchased online for $29.95.
This is where Malachi Love Robinson reportedly bought a $30 honorary doctorate of theology @CBS12 pic.twitter.com/fD1nCWzcXK
— Greg Angel (@NewsGuyGreg) March 1, 2016
Robinson claims to be a doctor of homeopathic medicine, offering services like “food and herb therapy” and “phototherapy.” But he has never shown documentation confirming his field of therapeutic medicine. His website — which, at the time of this writing, appears to have been taken down — says he is a “well rounded professional” who bases his treatments on “physiological functions and abnormal conditions on natural laws governing the human body.” The site says he accepts 19 different health insurance plans, speaks French, and lists his age as 25 instead of 18.
Robinson says he is also an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church, having completed a doctoral thesis that “explored the paradoxical nature of certain Christian doctrines and the implications for the rationality of Christian faith.” The Universal Life Church is an online church and will ordain anyone older than 13 that fills out a form.
Andrew Stine, Robinson’s attorney, told journalists Wednesday “I think we lose sight of who he is. He’s really just a child. I know he’s a grown man in the eyes of the law … The point is he’s still a young man.” Stine hailed his “entrepreneurial spirit” and likened him to Bill Gates and Donald Trump.
[Image via Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office]
