Phony Doctor Sneaks into Oregon Hospital, 'Mistreats' Patient

June 24, 2011— -- Lucas Orlin Ebert looked the part. He dressed in a doctor's smock and vest with the insignia of Oregon Health and Sciences Hospital, and told a woman he was a plastic surgeon.

The 21-year-old was so convincing as a medical doctor that the woman, Sabrine Strader of Beaverton, agreed to meet him at the Portland hospital, which he had sneaked into with bogus identification.

Strader, 45, said that she had given Ebert a few thousand dollars to perform gastric bypass surgery at OHSU.

She had met with Ebert several times, and he had told her to stop her pain relievers and anti-anxiety medication that she used for panic attacks, according to the Oregonian.

"He believes what he says, so he's very persuasive," Strader told ABC's affiliate KATU.

Ebert got caught when Strader turned up at the hospital's information desk to ask where to go for her surgery with "Dr. Ebert." When hospital authorities began looking for the doctor, they realized he was a phony.

Police arrested Ebert Monday night on charges of felony criminal mistreatment and theft.

He is also accused of writing more than $2,200 in bad checks while he was staying in downtown Portland hotels. KATU also learned that Ebert is involved in pending theft cases totaling more than $57,000.

"I can't recall anything like this ever," OHSU spokesman Jim Newman told ABCNews.com. "But it doesn't look like he entered any patient areas, only the coffee shops and public waiting areas."

He said that Ebert was wearing scrubs and "looked like any other doctor walking our halls."

Ebert would not have been able to enter the operating room or the emergency room because he did not have an official electronic badge, according to Newman.

Experts say it's hard to know what motivates someone to impersonate a doctor.

"God only knows," said Dr. Carol Bernstein, associate professor of psychiatry at New York University Hospital. "What motivates someone to masquerade as someone else -- a doctor, a policeman, a fireman -- we don't know. It does depend on what is going on with that particular individual."

Court documents say that hospital video showed Ebert wheeling the woman out of the hospital.

Lt. Robert King of the Portland police said they are working closely with OHSU security police on the case. "We aren't weighing in on [the motivation] at all," King told ABCNews.com.

Impersonators Not Common, Can Be Troubled

Police said that Ebert claimed he was a "second year resident in plastic surgery," and in searching his home, they found three sets of doctor's scrubs. OHSU officials said Ebert had a vest with the hospital logo, an item that can be purchased at the facility's bookstore.

Ebert listed OHSU as his employer on his Facebook profile and showed an interest in "surgery" and "plastic surgery." He also said he had worked for Microsoft, a computer business and a porn production house, claims that police say are false.

Strader said Ebert had asked to meet her in the surgical area of OHSU and at a Starbucks. He also said he would take her there and treat her to lunch.

Impersonating a doctor is not that common, but it does happen, according to NYU's Bernstein. "You do hear of people putting up a shingle and saying, 'I am a doctor.' That's why we have regulatory agencies to check."

Bernstein said impersonators can have any number of psychiatric conditions, including psychosis and severe personality disturbance.

But they can also be con artists.

"It could also be someone playing around and conscious about what they are doing," she said.

Just this month, a San Jose, Calif., man was accused of dispensing medical advice without a license, telling a woman to cut back on her multiple sclerosis medicine.

Yevgeniy Valentine Vasin, 54, pleaded guilty to one felony count. Vasin ran an alternative medicine center, according to the Mercury News.

Prosecutors said he injected her with a drug used to treat Alzheimer's disease and vitamins for hair loss. The woman has since died, but Vasin is not charged with her death.

And in April in Tampa, Fla., Sandra Rovhana "treated" at least five patients, diagnosing one with depression and another with male menopause.

Undercover police officers arrested Rovhana, 47, for posing as a psychiatrist and charging her patients $60 an hour.

Portland authorities said they have no idea what motivated Lucas Orlin Ebert.

"In my law enforcement experience, typically there are personality issues at play or financial motivation and we're looking into both those things," OHSU Security Director Greg Moawad told KATU.

Neighbors of Ebert, who lives with his mother, said they were stunned by the medical ruse.

"I'm definitely shocked," said Eric Keagbine. "You don't think he's going to grow up and fake something like that."