Doctor Accused of Working at Clinic Without License

A doctor whose license was revoked after he was charged in criminal court with molesting three women at his Orange County office was arrested in East Los Angeles Tuesday on suspicion of practicing medicine without a license.

Investigators from the California Board of Medical Quality Assurance arrested Dr. Alfred W. Chao, 39, at a clinic on South Atlantic Boulevard. That board had revoked Chao’s license in September after independently concluding that he had molested three patients.

The three, all cadets from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, had gone to Chao complaining of leg injuries, and all claimed that he fondled them when they were alone during examinations. Chao denied the accusations, and an Orange County Superior Court jury deadlocked on his case. The criminal charges were then dropped.

Chao, who has practiced medicine throughout the state, has an eight-year history of run-ins with the Board of Medical Quality Assurance. In 1979, he was placed on probation after being accused of Medi-Cal and insurance fraud and dispensing dangerous drugs without cause.

The probation was continued in 1984 for three years. But Chao’s license was revoked on Sept. 16 after the molestation complaint.

Kathy Schmidt, a senior investigator for the medical board, said her agency was tipped on Monday that Chao was again practicing medicine, this time at the East Los Angeles County Medical Group.

After an undercover investigator went to the clinic Tuesday and verified that Chao was practicing medicine, the doctor was arrested, Schmidt said.

Dr. James W. Eisenberg, director of the clinic, said he was shocked to learn that Chao’s license had been revoked.

Chao’s bond had not been set late Tuesday, as he was still being processed into the Los Angeles County Jail.

In a separate case, a physician’s assistant was arrested on suspicion of illegally practicing medicine at a Huntington Beach Clinic. State authorities said the man did not even have a license to be a physician’s assistant.

Medical board investigators arrested Mark F. Shannon, 31, of Fountain Valley earlier this month. Shannon was charged last week with pretending to be a doctor and practicing medicine at a Rand’s Medical Care Center in Huntington Beach after the real doctor there was arrested on suspicion of having controlled drugs for personal use. Shannon is free on a personal recognizance bond.

Shannon allegedly saw patients and dispensed prescription drugs during the last week of November at the Huntington Beach clinic of Dr. Jerry N. Rand on Beach Boulevard. Shannon had worked there since August as a physician’s assistant. However, he also is accused of not having the required state license to hold that job.

The board began investigating Shannon after being tipped that he had taken Rand’s place after Rand was arrested at his Costa Mesa home Nov. 21 on drug charges.

On Dec. 23, the Orange County district attorney filed five misdemeanor charges against Shannon. He is due to be arraigned Jan. 13.

Rand, 41, was arrested after Costa Mesa police responded to a call about a domestic disturbance at his home. According to Costa Mesa Patrolman Darrel Raney, who arrested the doctor, Rand’s female roommate complained that the doctor was “acting irrationally and breaking things up.”

Police reportedly found bottles of prescription drugs bearing names of different patients. Rand was freed from the Orange County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bond. His secretary said Tuesday that he was back at work at the clinic.

Neither Rand nor Shannon, who also was reported at the clinic Tuesday, returned phone calls.