WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A West Palm Beach man accused of posing as a doctor when he was a teenager and stealing money from an elderly woman has agreed to a plea deal.
Malachi Love-Robinson, 20, pleaded guilty Thursday to multiple felony charges, including grand theft and practicing medicine without a license.
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Under the terms of the plea deal, Love-Robinson will have to serve 42 months in prison, but he will receive credit for time served.
Malachi Love-Robinson was arrested in February 2016 after the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said he was practicing medicine without a license and stole more than $35,000 from an 86-year-old woman in his care.
Deputies said Love-Robinson operated the New Birth New Life Medical Center & Urgent Care office at 4700 N. Congress Ave., Suite 303. The website listed Love-Robinson as a doctor, even though he wasn't licensed by the Florida Department of Health.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Love-Robinson treated an undercover deputy at his office while wearing a white physician's coat and a stethoscope around his neck. The deputy wrote in her report that Love-Robinson took her blood pressure and gave her a physical examination, telling her that her "lungs were clear" and her "heart sounded strong."
An 86-year-old woman told deputies she called the center in December 2015 and spoke to Love-Robinson, who came to her home wearing a white lab coat and stethoscope, deputies said.
Love-Robinson examined her "lungs, heart and legs" before diagnosing her with arthritis and selling her natural vitamins, deputies said.
The woman told deputies that Love-Robinson returned to her home four more times to treat her, and she paid him thousands of dollars. She became so sick during one visit that Love-Robinson called an ambulance to her home.
Before leaving, Love-Robinson told her not to bring her purse and keys and asked her to give them to him, promising to lock her home, she told deputies.
The woman told deputies that she later went to the bank and realized she had no money in her account. She told deputies that she believes he stole her checks while she was hospitalized.
In a Florida Department of Health investigative report, Love-Robinson claimed to hold degrees from Arizona State University and Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine & Health Sciences, both in Tempe, Arizona, but the school registrars found no records of Love-Robinson's enrollment at either institution.
The report said Love-Robinson claimed to be a doctor of homeopathic medicine.
Love-Robinson earlier told ABC News that he was a doctor, but not a medical doctor.
"I do currently hold a Ph.D.," he said. "In what, I don't feel comfortable disclosing."