Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
San Francisco Chronicle - April 25, 2006
Bob Egelko, begelko@sfchronicle.com.
Stephen Brian Turner, 51, of Hayward was also ordered Monday to pay $138,510 in fines to the state and restitution to his victims. He pleaded guilty last month to five felony charges of grand theft, mishandling blood samples, presenting false records and practicing medicine without a license.
Turner's medical license was revoked in 1998 after he failed to get psychological treatment that had been ordered by the California Medical Board. The board had previously put him on probation because of two criminal convictions for indecent exposure.
Posing as a doctor, he continued to offer medical exams that are required for immigrants seeking entry or permanent residency in the United States. Prosecutors said Turner injected hundreds of immigrants with saline solution and reported on their immigration forms that they had been vaccinated for measles, mumps, rubella and diphtheria. He also drew blood from patients that he never submitted for testing, and falsely reported that they had tested negative for HIV and syphilis, prosecutors said.
The scheme was inadvertently aided by federal immigration officials, who mistakenly listed Turner on an agency Web site as one of the doctors certified to examine applicants for green cards as late as the fall of 2003.
Turner allegedly charged $200 for the exams he performed at two locations in San Francisco's Mission District, other sites in Santa Rosa, Fresno and Stockton, and in private homes. He saw more than 1,400 patients in San Francisco alone between late 2003 and December 2005, said Debbie Mesloh, spokeswoman for District Attorney Kamala Harris.
"These innocent immigrants were victimized by a greedy man who wanted nothing more than to advance his own personal gain at their expense," Harris said in a statement.
The district attorney's office asked those who believe they may have been victims of Turner to call (800) 868-1933.
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