Dentist Who Removed Tooth While on a Hoverboard Sentenced to 12 Years Behind Bars

[BROOKLYN JET]

Seth Lookhart will not be allowed to practice medicine for a decade after his eventual release from prison

By Ashley Boucher

September 16, 2020 10:08 PM

 

Seth Lookhart TODAY

A dentist in Alaska has been sentenced to more than a decade behind bars after he was found guilty of operating on a patient while on a hoverboard.

Seth Lookhart, 35, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Monday, nine months after he was convicted of dozens of charges that included Medicaid fraud, reckless endangerment and unlawful dental acts, Anchorage Daily News reported.

Additionally, Lookhart will not be allowed to practice medicine during his 10-year probation following his eventual release from prison.

During the sentencing, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Michael Wolverton said that Lookhart's actions including sedating patients for exteded periods of time "darn near killed some people," the outlet reported.

Lookhart will begin serving his sentence on December 7, the Fairfield Citizen reported.

"While I do not doubt that I was able to render care and alleviate the pain to many people who were in dire need, I also know that I could have and should have maintained better discipline and focus while serving a patient base I came to love," the disgraced dentist said in a prepared apology in court Monday, according to the outlet.

Lookhart, who purchased Alaska Dental Arts in 2015 and changed the name to Clear Creek Dental, and his office manager Shauna Cranford billed Medicaid for unnecessary IV sedation procedures, according to court documents obtained by Anchorage Daily News. The outlet reported that the duo fraudulently billed nearly $2 million.

Lookhart's trial included testimony from several of his former patients — including a woman had a tooth pulled while the dentist was standing on a hoverboard. Lookhart was caught in cell phone video pulling the unconscious woman's tooth before riding the hoverboard into the hallway and raising his hands over his head, Anchorage Daily News reported.

In the January verdict, Wolverton said that Lookhart's own texts, photos and videos contributed to the evidence against him.

"Perhaps most notable of all is the fact that this overwhelming amount of evidence was often supported, and often in excruciating detail, by Dr. Lookhart’s own texts, photos and videos," the judge said at the time, according to a previous Anchorage Daily News report.

Cranford accepted a plea deal in October, and is set to be sentenced later this week, according to the outlet.

The charges were first filed in 2017, and Lookhart's dental license was suspended at the time as a result.

https://people.com/crime/dentist-who-removed-tooth-while-on-a-hoverboard-sentenced-to-12-years-behind-bars/

[The Gun Of Bavaria]

At what point as a human being, do you not get up out of the chair when your dentist comes rolling in on a hoverboard?

[munchmemory]

Next week:   Colonoscopies whist paddle boarding.

[ZachEY]

It's the Medicaid fraud.  If you're willing to be a dentist in Alaska, the pay differential is astronomical because of the shortage.  I doubt very much they cared about the hoverboard, but once you start ******* with government insurance, you're toast.

[southparkcpa]

12 hours ago, munchmemory said:

Next week:   Colonoscopies whist paddle boarding.

I hear he does prostrate exams while playing air guitar. 

[chirorob]

On 9/18/2020 at 9:00 AM, TeddEY said:

It's the Medicaid fraud.  If you're willing to be a dentist in Alaska, the pay differential is astronomical because of the shortage.  I doubt very much they cared about the hoverboard, but once you start ******* with government insurance, you're toast.

Medicare and medicaid fraud are huge.

The hover board thing is just to get people to click on it

 

[The Crimson King]

"Unlawful Dental Acts"

great charge !

You have to be nuts to live in Alaska anyway. In the two-three months where the weather is bearable, you get eaten alive by huge mosquitos and even worse no-see-ums.  Just about everyone you meet is a bit scary. Some nice scenery though.

[jetophile]

^I picked up on that also. Who is to say exactly what those "unlawful dental acts" are, but that sounds really gray and cloudy. No, not doing a weather report; but if it was something like sexual assault he would've been charged with that first and foremost.

Yeah, it's definitely the MC/MCA fraud that sank him, especially with the COVID crisis and state and fed both bleeding out.

On 9/17/2020 at 10:24 PM, BROOKLYN JET said:

FROM THE ARTICLE: ==> Lookhart's actions including sedating patients for exteded periods of time

^Not for nothing, but journalism flat out just does not exist anymore.  Everyone typos (I am the Undisputed Queen of that) and also gets "autocorrected" - meaning it changes it to something WRONG - like crazy, but that is just lazy and pretty unforgivable.