Man who posed as a doctor in Virginia clinic sentenced to prison time

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A man who was charged after posing as a doctor at a free clinic in Newport News was sentenced 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 after falsely claiming to be licensed to practice medicine in Virginia.

Court documents said 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 Dec. 3.

Patel was sentenced to two years in prison and will have one year of supervised release.