06/24/2010 // West Palm Beach, FL, USA // Tara Monks // Tara Monks
Bound Brook, NJ – A Bound Brook woman was arrested Tuesday, June 22, 2010, and charged with third-degree unlawful practice of dentistry, as she was operating out of an office supplied with everything except a license, as reported by NJ.com.
The arrest of 46-year-old Maria Medel came after an investigation stemming from a tip from a licensed dentist that treated a former patient of the Bound Brook woman.
Somerset County Prosecutor A. Peter DeMarco Jr. reported that one of her alleged patients developed an infection after being worked on and sought treatment from a secondary dentist. The second, and licensed, dentist became concerned about the condition of the work that had been performed.
Upon questioning, the man with the shoddy dental work told the licensed dentist that Medel worked on his teeth and provided the woman’s number. The information was passed onto the state Division of Consumer Affairs.
Medel, of Mountain Avenue, was operating a dental practice out of a makeshift office based in a room she rented in a multi-family home on Lamonte Avenue. She allegedly worked on paying customers who came to her for dental work.
The state Division of Consumer Affairs Enforcement Bureau, the prosecutor’s Special Investigations Unit and the Bound Brook Detective Bureau worked the case. On Tuesday, June 22, an undercover detective met with Medel for a consultation. The undercover detective reported seeing a dentist chair and instruments in the room. Investigators then executed a search warrant and recovered evidence of dental practice, according to DeMarco.
Medel was detained on $5,000 bail, which she paid 10 percent of the same day.
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