Man who pretended to be a doctor in Brazil arrested in the Azores

The Judicial Police (PJ) arrested a 72-year-old man on the island of São Miguel, in the Azores, who was wanted by Brazilian authorities and who was posing as a doctor in São Paulo, the police force revealed this Wednesday.

According to a statement from the PJ, the man was arrested to serve a sentence of five years and 11 months in prison, after being convicted of crimes equivalent in Portugal to qualified fraud and usurpation of functions, the facts dating back to the period between April and May 2016.

The PJ states that the individual called himself a specialist in Machado-Joseph disease, “prescribing and administering supposedly innovative treatments, promising significant improvements to patients”.

Three victims paid “large sums to undergo the alleged treatments, which, however, did not result in any observable benefit”, according to the PJ.

The detainee will be brought before the Lisbon Court of Appeal for the application of appropriate coercive measures, while awaiting the extradition process.