Update at 12:40 p.m.: Malachi Love-Robinson tugged Wednesday at the lapels of the suit he often wears underneath a white, medical lab coat, and with the eloquence of someone twice his age, defended himself.
"You mean to tell me that opening up a practice at the age of 18 years old and studying holistic and alternative medicine is fraud?" the teen told The Palm Beach Post in an exclusive interview.
"That is not so."
From the living room of Love-Robinson's single-story home, where he's been hidden away since his release from jail at 3 a.m., Love-Robinson denied all of the accusations brought against him in the past 24 hours.
His medical practice was raided by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, which claims that the teen has been posing as a medical doctor and practicing medicine without proper license, among other accusations.
"Every person I met knew that my practice was for holistic medicine. I never once wrote a prescription," he said.
Love-Robinson says he received a Ph.D. from a private, Christian university based in California, which he enrolled in and attended online but declined to name. He claims to be certified by several alternative medical organizations, including the American Association of Drugless Practitioners and the American Alternative Medical Association.
Love-Robinson's business partner, who says he invested more than $10,000 in the medical practice, says he believed Love-Robinson's licenses were all valid, and thought he was older when he first met him.
Perseus Wells, 30, was shocked when he learned of the allegations brought against Love-Robinson, he said as he was clearing out New Birth New Life Medical Center in a building near West Palm Hospital on Wednesday morning.
"If you have a conversation with this kid, you'll realize he's not your average kid," Wells said. "His memory and retention of information is incredible. He's extremely smart and well-spoken. You would never believe how young he is."
Wells said there were degrees and certificates hanging on the walls of the third-floor practice, but they were seized by the sheriff's office during the raid.
"I had no idea. How was I supposed to know whether or not (a degree) from a school was fake if it was?" he said. "I'm not an expert, and I'm not his boss. We're partners and I trusted him."
Love-Robinson maintains that all of his certificates are valid. He expects the charges will be cleared, and when they are, he said, he plans to get a medical degree.
“What this is is defamation of my name, my character,” Love-Robinson said. “After all of this is cleared, I’m going to pursue my M.D. And I promise you, I will be the best M.D. the world has ever seen.”
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