Sept. 17, 2015 By Michael Florio
An unlicensed doctor who allegedly handed out prescription drugs, injected patients with liquids and performed medical procedures for years out of his Corona office was arrested on Tuesday, according to the Queens District Attorney’s office.
Gabriel Estrada, 59, allegedly ran an unlawful medical office at 102-15A Northern Blvd since at least 2000, according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown.
He would treat patients in a room that looked like a doctor’s office, containing an examination table, a stethoscope, an otoscope and a pail filled with medical syringes.
“The defendant – who is not licensed by New York State to practice medicine – is accused of preying upon unsuspecting individuals to selfishly enrich himself,” Brown said.
“His alleged conduct jeopardized the safety of patients by allowing an unlicensed individual to treat them – including injecting them with an unknown substance.”
Estrada was nabbed after an undercover police officer visited Estrada’s office—posing as a patient– on five separate occasions between June 11, 2013 and July 22, 2015. The undercover officer complained about various ailments such as back pain, leg pain, numbness and diarrhea.
It is alleged that Estrada would perform a cursory exam every time the undercover officer visited, before attempting to inject the officer with a syringe filled with an unknown liquid. Each time the officer refused the syringe.
Following every visit the officer was requested to pay $30 cash.
Estrada would also write a “prescription” on a post-it note and tell the officer to take it to a nearby pharmacy. The officer would then receive prescription anti-inflammatory drugs and muscle relaxants, as well as an unknown liquid for cash payments ranging between $74 to $106.
The officer once witnessed Estrada inserting a syringe into the buttocks of an unknown female and injecting an unknown substance into her.
Members of the New York City Police Department’s Organized Crime Investigation Division executed a court-authorized search warrant at Estrada’s office.
They recovered a used hypodermic syringe (from a pail containing multiple used syringes), a plastic container containing nine oxycodone pills, as well as assorted injectable drugs and prescription pills that were allegedly at the scene.
Estrada allegedly asked, if one of his patients had died and further stated that he went to school in his home country of Colombia, graduating in 1991.
He claimed that he tried to get a license in the United States in 1999 and 2000 but wasn’t able to pass the examinations and has been treating twenty to thirty people a week since that time, according to the DA’s office.
Estrada, who now lives on 50th Ave in Corona, was ordered held on $15,000 bond or $7,500 cash bond and to surrender his Colombian passport. He faces up to nine years in prison if convicted.
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