Vishal J. Patel
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A man who was charged after posing as a doctor at a free clinic in Newport News was sentenced on Wednesday.
According to court documents, 31-year-old Vishal Patel used the personal information of licensed physicians to pose as a doctor when applying in online employment applications to medical staffing companies.
He saw around two dozen patients at the clinic.
Patel was sentenced to 2 years in prison and will have 1 year of supervised release.
Patel falsely claimed to be licensed to practice medicine in Virginia.
Court documents say that in order to support this claim, Patel created and submitted false diplomas and certificates concerning his education, training, certifications, and licenses in which he included registration and licensing numbers belonging to various licensed physicians.
Through the scheme, officials said Patel fraudulently induced various medical staffing companies to employ him as an independent contractor.
Patel pleaded guilty to furnishing false information in a DEA record and aggravated identity theft on December 3.
