Police charge unlicensed dentist
Police have charged a man with practising dentistry without a license.
Mario Alfredo Pacheco was arrested by police after investigations and subsequent raids were carried out on a property on Grand Avenue in Oakland, California. Pacheco treated patients illegally at the surgery between 2006 and 2009. The bogus dentist targeted those with low incomes and the unemployed and accepted cash payments only.
Teresa Drenick, the spokeswoman for the District Attorney, Nancy O’Malley, said that police had raided the address in Oaklands in conjunction with the Dental Board of California. Three victims have been identified so far; interviews with the patients revealed that Pacheco had carried out treatments including root canal surgery and tooth extractions, as well as unwanted treatments, which patients had not requested. The victims had paid Pacheco between $1,800 and $11,000 for treatment.
Investigators say that Pacheco had injected patients with drugs and used dental instruments, which were not sterilised properly; it is illegal to provide drugs without a license and to use unsterile instruments and equipment.
Yesterday, Mario Alfredo Pacheco pleaded not guilty to charges of practising without a license, risking the health of others, inflicting bodily harm and injury and administering anaesthetic, which was used to assist in committing a crime.
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