A 22-year-old Florida man has been released from prison after serving 20 months of his 3.5-year sentence he received for impersonating a doctor while he was still a teenager and stealing from a patient. Malachi Love-Robinson, better known to his patients as "Dr. Love" was released on Monday after authorities gave him credit for time served before his sentencing.
Authorities first caught up with Love-Robinson in 2016 after discovering the then-teenager was illegally practicing medicine out of a West Palm Beach office. At one point, Love-Robinson treated an undercover officer, giving him an exam.
"Just beacuse you saw a season of 'Grey's Anatomy' doesn't mean you could practice medicine," the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said in a tweet announcing Love-Robinson's arrest.
At a news conference before he began serving his sentence, Love-Robinson attempted to play down his misdeed saying it had never been his intention to mislead anyone into thinking he was a doctor of medicine and that he'd been mostly interested in naturopathic treatment.
"This was not about me trying to hurt people, this was not about me trying to say I'm a medical doctor," Love-Robinson said. "Because, honestly, people have misconstrued my name, they misconstrued my age, they've misconstrued where I'm from, they've misconstrued everything about me."
In fact Love-Robinson's doctorate was something he had purchased online for $29.95 from the Universal Life Church Seminary according to the Florida Department of Health. The 22-year-old also held a certificate from the American Association of Drugless Practitioners in Galveston, Texas.
An online biography for Love-Robinson referred to him as a "well-rounded professional" who is able to use "physiological, psychological, and mechanical methods" to treat his patients. Some of his methods included from air to water to phototherapy and "nature's remedies."
Love-Robinson was also accused of examining and defrauding an older woman out of $35,000.
Photo: Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department