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 - Thursday, June 8, 2006
Tyche Hendricks, Chronicle Staff Writer, thendricks@sfchronicle.com
Public Health Director Mitch Katz, a doctor, and District Attorney Kamala Harris announced Wednesday that anyone who was defrauded by Stephen Brian Turner and still needs a new immigration medical exam can call a telephone line set up by the Department of Public Health and arrange for services.
The phone line, (415) 554-2691, has information in English, Spanish, Cantonese and Russian and will operate through July 29.
Turner, 51, who is serving seven years and eight months in state prison, paid $138,510 in restitution after admitting to performing bogus exams on more than 1,400 immigrants in San Francisco.
Turner, who lost his medical license in 1998, charged about $200 apiece for exams required by the immigration service of people applying for permanent residence in the United States. Instead of inoculating the applicants, however, Turner injected them with saltwater, and he never had the blood he drew tested for HIV and syphilis. He allegedly ran the same scheme in Fresno, Santa Rosa and elsewhere.
Federal immigration officials mistakenly maintained Turner's name on an agency Web site as a doctor certified to examine applicants for green cards as late as the fall of 2003. His physician's license was revoked years earlier after he failed to get psychological treatment ordered by the California Medical Board when he was convicted of indecent exposure.
San Francisco will fund the new exams and make them available to any of Turner's victims, regardless of where they live, said district attorney spokeswoman Debbie Mesloh.
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