Before Malachi Love-Robinson was thrown into the national spotlight, accused of practicing medicine without a license and stealing thousands from an 86-year-old woman, he was pulled aside by Palm Beach County School District police.
In 2014, the then 16-year-old was going from high school to high school claiming to be a doctor looking to join the schools’ medical academies as a staff member, according to a report the district released Friday.
When questioned by police, he said he “knew he was not a medical doctor, believes he is a compulsive liar and is aware that he may have” an unspecified medical condition, according to the report. The medical condition was redacted from the document.
The report details Love-Robinson’s attempts to pass himself off as a doctor to join the medical academies at several high schools. This week, the 18-year-old was arrested after he gave a physical exam to an undercover Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy at his office in West Palm Beach.
Love-Robinson faces additional charges for allegedly cashing $2,800 in forged checks he allegedly stole from an elderly patient. The Florida Department of Health also released documents into an October 2015 investigation where it found he was practicing medicine without a license at New Directions, an intensive outpatient program in Boynton Beach that focuses on addictions.
The teen admitted to investigators that he did not have a medical degree and that the other degrees he presented were forged. In 2015, he was escorted from St. Mary's Medical Center's outpatient facility wearing a white coat and stethoscope after he was found in a patient's examination room, according to police.
On Jan. 15, 2014, school police were asked to assist with a “suspicious person” claiming to be a doctor at the district headquarters on Forest Hill Boulevard. Love-Robinson, whose name is redacted from the report, told investigators he is enrolled as a home-school student in the county but wanted to get a district job.
He said he spoke with several principals at schools, including Palm Beach Gardens and Inlet Grove high schools, all who referred him to district Choice Program specialists for assistance.
Earlier that week, Love-Robinson was at Lake Worth High School asking for information on the nursing program, then left the school without an issue, according to the report. When he visited Inlet Grove, officials there told him to leave the campus and not return, investigators said.
Soon after, an email claiming to be the parents of Love-Robinson was sent to the school apologizing for any miscommunication that had occurred or any issues the teen had caused. The alleged parent wrote that the child was enrolled in the home-school program but did have legitimate degrees that could be provided for inspection, according to the report.
“Please forgive me and I ask that you not look down upon (Love-Robinson!)”
The email was signed by “The Parent of Dr. (Malachi Love-Robinson),” according to the report.
When the teen’s grandparents came to pick him up from the district, they told investigators they discussed the need for him to be treated his undisclosed medical condition. Investigators wrote in the report he was referred to West Palm Hospital, formerly known as Columbia Hospital.
Before Love-Robinson left that day, he told investigators he wanted to be removed from the home-school program so he could take the GED and “move on to college to further his education in the medical field.”
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