A west-central Florida couple is accused of illegally running a dental office out of their home garage, the Bradenton Herald reported.
Enrique Sanabria Gravier, 48, and his wife, Adriana Gutierrez Hoyos, 47, were arrested Tuesday by North Port Police and the Florida Department of Health and charged with practicing dentistry without a license and conspiracy to commit a felony, the newspaper reported.
The couple is also accused of performing extractions and putting braces and crowns on patients, the Herald reported.
The investigation, nicknamed Operation Extraction, began Nov. 5 when the Florida Department of Health received a tip that two people had been operating an unlicensed office, called Enrique Dentistry, out of their home for the past five years, WFTS reported.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Gravier and Hoyas kept a book of clients in their residence and only performed dentistry work on Hispanic clients, most of whom were undocumented immigrants, WFTS reported.
According to authorities, on Feb. 6 a North Port Police Department detective made a controlled telephone call to Hoyos, in which she said a cleaning was $100, the television station reported. They set an appointment for Feb. 13.
The detective arrived for his appointment, spoke Spanish to Hoyos and waited in the couple's living room, WFTS reported. According to the affidavit, the detective, who took audio and visual recordings, saw Hoyos book additional appointments by phone while other clients waited in the living room, the Herald reported.
The practice had no medical insurance, and Gravier and Hoyos have not been paying taxes, the newspaper reported, citing the affidavit.
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