ORLANDO, Fla. -- An Orange County man was arrested, accused of impersonating a doctor. Deputies were investigating how much access he had in hospitals like ORMC and Arnold Palmer. Investigators said he used the con to pick up women.
The alleged con man had many people at Orlando Regional Medical Center and other local hospitals convinced he was a pediatric heart surgeon. Cops said he did it to build an arsenal of unsuspecting girlfriends.
In the past few days, several women have met under the strangest of circumstances. They were all dating the same man, Robert West, who was now jailed.
"He told me that he was Dr. Ofari Mays, a cardiothorasic surgeon," one woman said.
"He came over in his doctor outfit. The lab coat, the green scrubs, the shoes," another woman commented.
So far, eight women were caught up by West, and there may be more. West, posing as Dr. Mays, spent many hours and days at Orlando Regional Medical Center in the scrubs and lab coat.
One hospital employee, who didn't want to be identified, said she watched West review patient records and discuss treatments with nurses and other doctors.
Last week, West's con unraveled when a deputy pulled him over for a traffic violation.
"He kept the ruse on for about two and a half hours before he finally fessed up and admitted he wasn't a doctor," said
Investigators said, when they found women's credit cards, social security numbers and other personal information in West's car, they convinced him to fess up.
"Apparently, he's been making a very good living convincing woman that he's a physician and living off of them," said
The women West duped said he had great access to the hospital, even getting to know security guards.
The hospital said Wednesday that they found nothing to indicate contact with patients. The sheriff's office thinks it may have all been a ploy to get dates with unsuspecting women.
West remained in jail Wednesday, unable to come up with $500 in bail money.
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