Man who posed as doctor sentenced for fraud

The man held at the Spanish Town Hospital last year for impersonating a medical doctor and collecting money for services was yesterday sentenced to more than six years in prison in the St Catherine Parish Court.

Andrew Clarke, 58, pleaded guilty to four counts of obtaining money by means of false pretence and uttering forged documents. The Crown withdrew the impersonation charge. Clarke was sentenced by Senior Parish Court Judge Janelle Nelson-Gayle to 36 months and 29 days on each count of uttering forged documents, and 12 months and 29 days on each count of obtaining money by means of false pretence. The judge ruled that two of the uttering forged documents sentences must run consecutively. The other sentences must run concurrently.

Nelson-Gayle said that with Clarke being a repeat offender - he had previous convictions in 1997 and 2007 - he could have been sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. Clarke also reportedly said that he did the acts to care for his ailing child. But this did not sway the judge.

"We find that the aggravated circumstances outweighed the mitigated ones, in fact I see no mitigation," Nelson-Gayle said.

On November 6, 2024, police received information that a 'Dr Clarke' had collected more than $2 million - including $1.7 from one individual - from persons to perform various medical services but failed to honour the agreements. Detectives from the St Catherine North Police Division went to the Spanish Town Hospital compound, where Clarke -- dressed in a uniform with a doctor's identification card bearing his name and image -- was arrested. Following further investigation, it was revealed that he was not a doctor. To convince his victims, he furnished fake recommendations from various hospitals where he claimed to have been employed.