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WFTV obtains 3-hour interrogation of physician assistant impersonator

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — WFTV has obtained an entire three-hour-long interrogation video of a man accused of impersonating a physician assistant and even treating patients.

Matthew Scheidt's attorneys are trying to prevent the tape from being played during his upcoming trial.

The 17-year-old even admitted to performing CPR on a patient to fill in for a doctor.

"I swear to God I did not do nothing. I would not have done. I felt so uncomfortable even doing that. And, you know, the only reason why I did do it was because there was nobody else in there. And I'm not going to let her die," Scheidt said during the interrogation.

During the hours of interrogation, Scheidt admitted that he should not have worn the physician assistant badge and that he did deceive doctors at Osceola Regional Medical Center.

Scheidt told detectives he went to Osceola Regional Medical Center to get a badge he thought he needed for his job at a doctor's office across the street.

"Their error was putting me in apparently as a physician assistant into their computer, and then I lose my job," he said.

During the interrogation, Scheidt claims an employee at the hospital messed up paperwork, calling him a physician's assistant.

"I just want to find out who did this and put that into the system and have whoever did this fired, because apparently they are too ignorant to have that position," Scheidt said on the tape.

Scheidt initially claimed he always identified himself as a student "shadowing" a doctor.

"Let's even say that I said I was a physician assistant. Let's even say that I was. Are you that stupid that you are just going to put me in the system as that, without any credentials or any paper work or nothing?" said Scheidt.

Scheidt told a detective that he performed CPR on a patient who came in for an overdose, claiming a doctor asked him to.

"He said, 'Can you take over CPR?'" said Scheidt. "I started doing CPR for a minute, two minutes, while he went to get medications and came back in. That was it."

Scheidt told detectives that he wore scrubs to the hospital, a pager and even a lab coat, which he bought. He admitted to holding two patients' hands after he said they asked him to.

Hours into the interrogation, Scheidt admitted that he impersonated a physician assistant by wearing the badge.

"I messed up. I should have addressed the issue when it was given to me," he said. "I just didn't want any questions asked, like I just wanted to learn as much as I possibly could for the longest time that I could but I did not wear it in the very beginning."

In the end, Scheidt wrote out an apology.

About three months after the interrogation, Scheidt was arrested again in January, accused of impersonating a police officer in Miami. He's still facing charges in that case.