It’s Jail or Labor for 4 in Illegal Dental Clinic

Four Valley residents are facing a choice of 90 days in jail or 45 days on a work crew after pleading no contest Tuesday to operating an unlicensed dental clinic in a North Hollywood apartment, Los Angeles City Atty. James Hahn said.

Cecilia Sanchez, 35, Sergio Luis Tellez-Sanchez, 44, and Kadir Mauricio Vargas, 34, all of North Hollywood, and Lucina De Mendez, 38, of Sun Valley, were also placed on three years probation and ordered to pay $500 in investigative costs to the state Board of Dental Examiners, according to the city attorney’s office.

Los Angeles Municipal Judge Ronnie B. MacLaren offered the defendants who opt for a work crew the choice between serving their month and a half on a Caltrans work squad or a graffiti-removal team.

Although the defendants did not immediately choose their punishment, prosecuting Deputy City Atty. Don Kass said when given the option defendants almost always take the hard labor.

“These are pretty arduous days you’re talking about,” Kass said. “This is hard work, usually 10-hour days picking up trash on the side of the road.”

The undercover investigation of the four defendants began after an informant told the LAPD that a dental clinic was operating in an apartment at 11200 Victory Blvd., said Kass, who is head of the the city attorney’s Consumer Protection Unit.

An undercover agent from the Board of Dental Examiners, backed up by other law enforcement officials, posed as a patient at the location on June 10, Kass said.

The investigators found a full-scale dental clinic in the apartment, Kass said. About 10 people waited in the living room while three other people--plus the undercover agent--were being treated by Sanchez, Tellez-Sanchez, Vargas and De Mendez in dental chairs installed in the bedrooms. Investigators also found X-ray equipment in each bedroom.

“In the past year we’ve prosecuted about half a dozen similar cases,” Kass said.

“They mostly occur in poorer neighborhoods where the cost of dental insurance may be prohibitive to care.”