WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —
An 18-year-old from West Palm Beach was arrested Tuesday, accused of practicing medicine without a license.
Members of the Palm Beach Narcotics Task Force and the Department of Health conducted an undercover operation Tuesday at the medical office used by Malachi Love-Robinson.
The office is at 4700 N. Congress Ave., Suite 303.
WPBF 25 News has been investigating Malachi Love-Robinson since early January, after receiving a tip that the previously unidentified teen posed as a doctor at St. Mary’s for a month in 2015, was opening his own clinic.
According to the Health Department, Love-Robinson was advertising himself as a doctor on his and his clinic’s website and Facebook page.
Love-Robinson’s website said the New Birth, New Life Alternative Medicine and Urgent Care Clinic offered holistic and urgent care, as well as family planning counseling, and was staffed with alternative medicine professionals.
The Florida Department of Health said it determined Love-Robinson was leading the public to believe he was a doctor, and was practicing medicine without a license.
An undercover Sheriff’s office agent who posed as a patient on Tuesday, said Love-Robinson took her temperature, blood pressure and listened to her lungs with a stethoscope on her back, and assured her she was not sick. She said he also gave her medical advice.
He was arrested immediately and taken into custody.
“I’m hurt because of all of these allegations,” Love-Robinson told WPBF 25 News as he was being led away in handcuffs, “but this is not the first time I have been accused and I will pursue this, and when I do, you will be the first to know.”
Love-Robinson was also accused of posing as a doctor last January.
The story of the 17-year-old caught last year in a pregnant woman's exam room at St. Mary's Medical Center went viral.
According to the police report, the then-unidentified teen, dressed in a St. Mary's lab coat and wearing a stethoscope and face mask, had been seen by doctors and staff for over a month, roaming the halls, and entering patient’s rooms.
St. Mary's denied he'd ever come in contact with patients and declined to press charges. Police determined no crime had been committed.
Love-Robinson admitted to WPBF 25 News in January, he was that teen, but claims he wasn’t pretending to be a doctor.
“No, ma’am. I requested to shadow physicians -- next thing I know, cops are there, that’s all I know, all I know, I have no idea,” said Love-Robinson.
The Department of Health issued Love-Robinson a cease and desist order in October, when they said he was working as a massage therapist at a Boynton Beach Rehabilitation facility without holding an active license.
The department ordered him to stop working as a massage therapist until he was licensed, and then began the latest investigation after receiving an anonymous tip in January.
Love-Robinson is charged with a third degree felony, and ordered by the Dept. of Health to cease and desist practicing medicine without a license.
A detective from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office contacted WPBF 25 News late Tuesday afternoon and said an 86-year-old woman said Love-Robinson visited her home when she wasn't feeling well.
She said he told her that she needed to go to the hospital.
The woman told investigators that she asked Love-Robinson to put her purse back in her house as she was being put into an ambulance.
Investigators believe that instead, he stole her checks and has been cashing them around town.
Love-Robinson was released from jail just before 3:30 a.m. Wednesday on $21,000 bail, according to records.
