Birmingham, Alabama – Isabel Kesari Gervais, 60, who falsely claimed to be a naturopathic doctor, pleaded guilty in federal court to defrauding patients at a Hoover clinic in 2015, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert Posey and U.S. Postal Inspector Frank Dyer.
Using the alias, Dr. Rose Starr, Gervais defrauded patients at the Euro Med Klinic by lying about her credentials, experience, and license to practice medicine, according to her guilty plea.
Gervais pled guilty to one count of wire fraud affecting a financial institution, one count of aggravated identity theft, and one count of making false statements. She also agreed to forfeit $108,146 as proceeds of illegal activity.
Gervais acknowledged that over the last 15 years she operated multiple clinics in Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, and Kansas using her current name and various aliases that often employed different spellings of the name Debra Lynn Goodman.
As part of Gervais’ plea agreement, she acknowledged that she had no legitimate medical degrees or training, but she had operated the clinics in Alabama and Georgia, as well as in Fayetteville and Springdale, Ark., and Leawood, Kan.
Gervais opened the Euro Med Klinic in Hoover in 2015 as Dr. Starr, claiming she had years of experience and was licensed to practice medicine in Alabama and throughout the world. She promised patients, including cancer sufferers, at the Hoover clinic that she could provide various medical services, including DNA tests that she did not have the technology to conduct.
Gervais is scheduled for sentencing in November. The maximum penalty for wire fraud affecting a financial institution is 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Aggravated identity fraud carries a two-year mandatory minimum prison sentence to run consecutively to any other sentence imposed.
Key Facts
- State: Alabama
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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