Cherokee TV

Canton Police Discover Medical Practice without a Doctor

CTV STAFF
Wednesday, October 01, 2008

MUG Miguel Velez

The Canton Police Department arrested two men who allegedly were involved in operating an illegal medical facility and are seeking the public's help in finding a third suspect.

Cpl. Stacy Bailey, public information officer for the police department, said investigators working undercover determined no actual doctor was on the staff of the Canton medical facility called “Clinica de la Salud Hispana” even as medical procedures - including surgery - were allegedly performed there.

The facility is located at 103 Oakside Court, Suite C. The location is near Northside Hospital-Cherokee and several private doctors offices.

The Canton Police Criminal Investigations Division received the initial complaint from the State Board of Medical Examiners about the clinic, Bailey said. Officials were told the clinic was using the name of a doctor who wasn't practicing medicine there, she said.

"When we conducted a search warrant on the medical facility we located prescriptions on site, including controlled substances and were able to determine the clinic filled prescriptions for their patients on site," Bailey said. "The investigators located 22 pre-signed blank prescription forms in a safe at the clinic."

The investigation has extended beyond Canton.

Investigators executed a search warrant Tuesday at a Woodstock home owned by a clinic co-owner identified by patients as the man who performed surgerical procedures on them, Bailey said. The authorities recovered a large amount of cash, together with medicine, documents related to clinics and medical equipment, she said. The home is located at 113 West Putnam Ferry Road.

The man who allegedly passed himself off as a doctor, Miguel Velez, 54, shown above, drove by the house while investigators were there and was arrested, Bailey said.

Miguel Velez was charged with 11 counts of practicing medicine without a license.

MUG Raul Velez

The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office arrested the clinic's office manager, Raul Velez, 50, left, on Monday night, Bailey said.

Raul Velez was charged with 22 counts of prescription documents signed in blank.

The men who were arrested earlier this week are brothers, and the third suspect is also a relative, Bailey said.

Canton Police have arrest warrants issued for Omar Velez, 27, who is Miguel Velez’s son and a new nephew of Raul Velez, for charges of false statements and writings, and identify theft for using the doctor’s name in obtaining a license, Bailey said.

Omar Velez, who is Miguel Velez’s son and nephew of Raul Velez, is listed as a co-owner of the Canton clinic and the office manager of a Smyrna location off Windy Hill Road under the same business name, Bailey said.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Omar Velez is urged to contact the Canton Police Department at (770) 720-4883.

In addition to the Canton and Smyrna clinics, there are two others in metro Atlanta using the same“Clinica de la Salud Hispana” name, Bailey said, citing a Roswell clinic near Holcomb Bridge Road and a facility in Atlanta on Chamblee-Dunwoody Road.