Photo: Hernando County Sheriff’s Office
Onelio Hipolit-Gonzalez, 73, was booked Feb. 7 into the Hernando County Detention Center and charged with unlicensed practice of a health care profession and unlawful use of a two-way communication device, the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office said in anews release.
To catch him in the act, authorities sent an undercover detective as a patient to meet with Hipolit-Gonzalez for an appointment on Feb. 7.
The two met at suspect’s friend’s house, which Hipolit-Gonzalez allegedly claimed he typically borrowed to meet with patients, and the patient paid him his requested $160, police said.
Hipolit-Gonzalez then allegedly took the patient’s blood pressure and pulse, placed a band around his head and had him hold a metal rod connected to a machine that soon started beeping, police said.
“Hipolit-Gonzalez told the patient that the device was testing his heart, brain, intestinal system, bones, nerves and ‘everything else,’” the release states.
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The suspect then allegedly told the patient his cholesterol was rising and that his brain was not getting enough oxygen. He also made notes on the patient’s liver fat and gallbladder, and eventually diagnosed him with diabetes and osteoporosis, according to the release.
He was subsequently placed into custody.
In an interview with police, he allegedly claimed he didn’t think he needed a license to practice medicine, and said he was a lab technician in Cuba.
He also allegedly said he believed his machine was “very accurate,” and said he’d purchased it online.
Hipolit-Gonzalez was booked that same day, and released on bond one day later, online records show.
source: people.com
