(WFAA) – Mario Sabillon-Mejia said he was a dentist. Police say the Honduran immigrant was nothing of the kind.
“We think he was just getting his experience by practicing on people,” said Lt. Tony Crawford, who is supervising the investigation.
Police say they caught on to what Sabillion-Mejia and his accomplice, Tiffany Gonzalez, were doing when a woman came forward and told authorities she became very sick with an infection after he pulled five of her teeth.
Police believe there could be dozens of other potential victims out there.
Sabillon-Mejia, 33, and Gonzalez, 41, were taken into custody Wednesday afternoon. They are being held in the Dallas County jail on felony charges of practicing medicine without a license and two misdemeanor counts of possessing dangerous drugs.
Sabillon-Meja is also being held on an immigration hold.
Erika Martinez is the woman who first reported Sabillon-Mejia to the police.
She was having toothaches and needed a dentist. She asked a friend on Facebook if she knew any good dentists who could help her. The friend recommended Sabillion-Mejia.
“She tell me he’s nice,” Martinez told News 8. “He’s professional.”
She called the phone number the friend provided. Gonzalez answered the phone, according to police records.
The pair came to her house on May 18. Martinez met with Sabillon-Mejia, who she said introduced himself as a licensed dentist. Gonzalez, police say, posed as his assistant and secretary.
Gonzalez told Martinez that the cost for medicine and tooth removal would be $1,500, the records say.
The agreement included a $500 payment for the initial exam, $500 to pull the teeth, and $500 more for the examination afterward.
They returned to her house on May 25. Martinez says she gave Gonzalez $500.
Martinez told authorities he then gave her an “unknown type of medicine” for pain. He began pulling teeth.
She asked him to stop.
He refused.
“He said, ‘I can’t do it. I need to finish with you,’” Martinez said.
She says he held her down “by force” on her couch and pulled five of her teeth. Afterward, she was in severe pain and bleeding profusely. The next days, she sought treatment at a hospital.
“I have a lot of pain and a lot of infection,” she said.
Police say there a number of red flags about Sabillion-Mejia.
For one, dentists do not typically make house calls. They also take X-rays before doing major dental procedures, such as tooth extractions, on patients.
“Obviously, anytime you practice medicine without license and you don’t know what you’re doing, you’re going to cause people irreparable harm or even death,” Crawford said.
According to an arrest warrant, more than a week later, Sabillon-Mejia returned to the Martinez’s home with a tooth mold and demanded $500. She paid him, but then went to the southwest patrol station to make a police report.
“She was having some real problems with infection and bleeding,” Crawford said. “She finally decided that she needed to report this.”
When they were arrested, police found the pair in the possession of numerous instruments and tools used in dental work. They pair had 11 glass vials of the carbocaine and 49 vials of lidocaine, which are both commonly used anesthetics in the practice of dentistry, according to police records.
They also seized a book containing the names of what appear to be other patients. Police believe there could be as many as 50 other victims. They also say he was doing the same thing in Houston.
Police also found a number of molds that he appeared to have made for patients. They think he was using them to make dentures.
Martinez says she is still taking pills for the pain and infection. She has gaps in her mouth from where Sabillion-Mejia pulled out her teeth. She says she doesn’t have the money to have it fixed.
“The victim is going to require extensive dental treatment to heal from her injuries,” Crawford said.
http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/local/dallas-county/2015/06/25/dallas-police-fake-dentist/29268439/
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