Teen who posed as doctor is arrested again

WEST PALM BEACH — Malachi Love Robinson, the 18 year old charged with practicing medicine without a license, has been released from the Palm Beach County Jail on new charges that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from an elderly patient.

A judge placed Love Robinson on supervised released and ordered he undergo a mental health evaluation. The teenager has also been ordered to have no contact with the victim in this new case and to stop pretending to be a doctor.

Love Robinson is charged with Grand Theft and Fraudulent Use of Identification after investigators say he stole more than $34,000 from an 88 year old woman he had treated for stomach pains.

Following the first appearance hearing, Love Robinson's attorney, Andrew Stine told CBS12 that he believes the publicity of the unique case will draw additional scrutiny and possibly more charges against his client.

"It's uncommon for an 18-year-old to open a doctor's clinic and I think given the situation the state is going to continue to look very deeply and unturn every piece of evidence or every fact that can lead a to a criminal charge," Stine said, adding that he believes the state may try to add charges that otherwise would be handled by civil cases.

Stine accuses the media of twisting Love Robinson's story unfavorably.

"I know he's a grown man in the eyes of the law...but the point is, he's still a young man and he's very, I would say tinder, in how he has been raised and how he has grown up and we can' those sight of that," Stine said.

THE FIRST INVESTIGATION

Investigators say Love-Robinson opened up a practice called "New Birth New Life Medical Center", located at 4700 North Congress Avenue in West Palm Beach.

Investigators say when they began their undercover sting, they walked into the office and found Love-Robinson wearing a white physicians lab coat and a blue stethoscope around his neck.

As CBS12 reported first on Thursday, Florida Department of Health was alerted about Love-Robinson through an anonymous letter sent to the agency's main office in Tallahassee.

The letter pleads for the agency's attention, saying at the end: "PLEASE intervene! He is a very skilled con man! He is truly a danger to the general public!!!"

It was signed "A Concerned Citizen".

According to the investigative report, Love-Robinson met with Florida Department of Health investigators in October of 2015.

Love-Robinson told investigators at that time that he was working as a Program Director and Counselor at New Directions, LLC in Boynton Beach. In his job, Love-Robinson said he helped counsel individuals struggling with drug and alcohol addiction and would even "advise the medical doctors, on staff, if a client medication needed adjustments."

It was a job he says he obtained with the help of college and licensing credentials that turned out to be fake. However, it also provided the funding needed to open the New Birth New Life Medical Center.

"Love-Robinson admitted that he never attempted medical school and he is not a licensed medical doctor," the report states. "Love-Robinson stated that he considers himself as a medical doctor and has people refer to him as a medical doctor. Love-Robinson continued by stating he has a Ph.D. from ULife Church, an online Christian school; this is why he feels he can be referred to as a doctor."

Love-Robinson told investigators that he obtained degrees from Southwest College of Natural Medicine in Tempe, Arizona and another from Arizona State University, but those degrees turned out to be fraudulent.

In January 2015 West Palm Beach Police arrested Love-Robinson, 17 years old then. He was accused of impersonating a doctor at St. Mary's Medical Center.

In October 2015 the Florida Department of Health issued Love-Robinson a cease and desist letter telling him to stop practicing medicine without a license. It's a warning that investigators say Love-Robinson ignored, leading to his arrest this week.

Love-Robinson defended himself saying that he is qualified and licensed in homeopathic medicine. The state says they've not issued a homeopathic medicine licensed in roughly 30 years.

THE DEFENSE

Andrew Stine told reporters Wednesday that the state does not require someone to have a medical license to run a clinic. That will be their primary defense.

"I think he's a brilliant individual, some of these young minds should be fostered in another way in our society," Stine said. "He has the entrepreneurial spirit like a Donald Trump or Bill Gates...if it was channeled maybe in a different direction, things could be different here today, but obviously the state has one side they're trying to put forward on this young man."

Malachi Love Robinson is due back in court in April.