The case of Malachi Love-Robinson, the West Palm Beach, Fla., teenager accused of illegally posing as a doctor, is on hold until after his trial March 15 on felony fraud charges in northern Virginia.
In Stafford County Circuit Court Friday, prosecutors added a fourth count, a forgery-type offense, to go along with three previously filed charges that resulted in a grand jury indictment this month, online court records show.
Love-Robinson is not accused of passing himself off as a licensed doctor there. The Virginia charges are based on his alleged attempts on Sept. 9 to buy a $35,000 Jaguar from a car dealership about 50 miles south of Washington, D.C., using someone else's credit, authorities said.
During an arraignment hearing Friday, Love-Robinson, 19, pleaded not guilty to all four charges, according to the court's website. A judge scheduled the jury trial.
Despite an active Palm Beach County, Fla., warrant for Love-Robinson's arrest, he will remain in Rappahannock Regional Jail without bond until the case is resolved there, his Stafford-based attorney, George Marzloff, has said.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Krista Marx had signed the warrant after she learned of the Virginia charges. Love-Robinson had been free on $26,000 bail at the time of his arrest in Stafford County.
Virginia officials say Love-Robinson used his godmother's name on a car loan application without permission, used her Social Security number, and used her credit card without her knowledge to buy iPads and a cellphone for $1,200.
Love-Robinson told deputies he was in town to buy cars for himself and his godmother, according to a news release. A bystander captured Love-Robinson's arrest at the dealership on cellphone video.
He is charged with attempt to commit identity theft; attempt to obtain money under false pretenses; false statement to obtain credit; and a forgery-type charge called uttering. Those counts together are punishable by up to 35 years in prison.
Marzloff could not be reached for comment Friday.
In Palm Beach County, Love-Robinson is charged with 14 felonies punishable by up to 90 years in state prison.
Wearing a white lab coat and stethoscope and holding fraudulent diplomas, he portrayed himself as a doctor in a West Palm Beach clinic and on house calls, authorities say.
Prosecutors say he also stole personal checks from a sick woman, among other offenses dating to spring 2015.
Love-Robinson has pleaded not guilty to two counts of practicing medicine without a license; two counts of practice of naturopathy without a license; three counts of forgery; two counts of grand theft from a person 65 or older; three counts of fraudulent use of personal identification information; one count of grand theft over $20,000; and one count of obtaining property in return for a worthless check, draft or debit card.
His former lawyer informed Marx about the possibility of an insanity defense.Love-Robinson had been undergoing mental health treatments since his initial arrest last February.
In media interviews last year, he denied any wrongdoing, calling himself a doctor of homeopathic medicine and a health care practitioner specializing in natural treatments.
One of the allegations is that Love-Robinson stole personal checks from an 86-year-old West Palm Beach woman he was seeing about her severe intestinal pain. Prosecutors say Love-Robinson drained the woman's checking account to make $34,504 in payments _ for his credit cards and Nissan car loans.
Love-Robinson also is accused of writing a $1,500 bad check as a down payment to West Palm Nissan on May 23, 2015, and making $42,970 in fraudulent charges from the business account of a Boynton Beach addiction treatment center where he worked last year, court records show.
The payments included $28,067 toward a 2015 Nissan Rogue, an arrest report states.
A status hearing on the Palm Beach County cases is set for Feb. 28.
