Bogus doctor cons police

Dance party doctor exposed as a fraud
Geoff Wilkinson
12 Sep 2005

A BOGUS doctor has conned senior bureaucrats, police and health professionals while working as a consultant to a State Government committee.

He fleeced event promoters of thousands of dollars while posing as a doctor and providing medical treatment at dance parties.

The impostor was a member of a government working group that produced a code of practice for running safer dance parties.

He posed as a doctor for more than four years before he was exposed as a fraud.

"Everybody thought he was a doctor," a source close to the Department of Human Services working group said.

"He attended a lot of meetings with high-ranking police and ambulance officers, doctors and government officials, and he fooled everyone.

"He introduced himself as a doctor and produced business cards that identified him as having medical qualifications.

"He was referred to as a doctor in all the meetings, and in the minutes, and never corrected it."

The man's business card said he had two medical degrees.

The Government's code of practice was reprinted after it was found the sham doctor had conned the experts.

His name featured prominently in the original code, but was removed from the second version.

The fake doctor was working as an ambulance officer with the Ambulance Service of NSW while selling his services to event promoters in Victoria.

Jason Ayoubi, director of Future Entertainment, one of Australia's biggest dance party promoters, said the man was not paid for his work on the government group.

Mr Ayoubi, a member of the group, said the man had claimed to be a MICA paramedic.

He said the man treated patrons needing basic medical attention and first-aid at dance parties and other events, including the Two Tribes party at Melbourne Park and Summadayze at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

He was quoted saying during last year's Summadayze party that he had "treated more than 200 patients for a variety of ailments".

Mr Ayoubi said the man also took part in debriefings with senior police and health authorities after major events.

The bogus doctor is believed to have hoodwinked at least three event organisers who paid for his services believing he was a doctor.

He was invited to join the government working group as a result of his perceived status as a "resident expert" on event health and safety issues.

The voluntary code of practice for commercial dance parties is a management plan that aims to ensure that health, safety and legal obligations are met by organisers.

Dance parties came under close scrutiny in recent years after high numbers of overdoses and drug arrests at some of Melbourne's biggest raves.

Eleven people were taken to hospital after overdosing on the potentially lethal party drug GBH (gamma hydroxy butyrate) at the Two Tribes dance party at Rod Laver Arena in March last year.

The number of overdoses dropped to three at this year's event, but police charged 46 people with possessing illicit drugs, including speed and ecstasy.

A spokesman for the Melbourne and Olympic Park Trust said the trust now contracted directly with St John Ambulance for the supply of medical services rather than relying on promoters.

A MICA ambulance was on site and hospitals were placed on alert for this year's Two Tribes party.

Concerns about the fake doctor's bona fides are believed to have been first raised by Melbourne ambulance officers.

A police investigation into his activities in Victoria covered a period of almost five years.

A spokesman for the Ambulance Service of NSW said the man had been suspended with pay. He was not a MICA paramedic, as he apparently claimed when challenged, but was a qualified ambulance officer and had worked as an operational ambulance officer.

Spokesman Ian Johns said a disciplinary inquiry had been postponed until after criminal charges were determined by the courts.

A 37-year-old man has been interviewed in Sydney by a detective-sergeant from the Melbourne criminal investigation unit.

Det-Sgt Craig Blunt charged the man with one count of purporting to be a doctor under the Medical Practice Act and 31 counts of obtaining property by deception, involving a total of more than $50,000.

The charges date from September 2000 to December 27 last year.

A man from the inner Sydney suburb of Darlington is due to appear in court later this month.

Department of Human Services spokesman Bram Alexander said it would be inappropriate to comment on matters that were before the courts.

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aunty establishment said:

One thing's for sure - the first aid service this guy provided was very poor. I remember one party where the first aid point was on the far side of the main dance floor, meaning if someone got sick you had to drag them through a densely packed crowd to get them attended to. Not so pretty.

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