Goldberg: West Palm Beach, Florida -- the perfect place to retire,
but it's also the place where this ambitious teenager
is just getting started.
Mosley: He's got his own building, his own employees,
his own patients.
He's really fulfilling his dream of being a doctor.
Goldberg: Your eyes don't deceive you.
He wasn't just a little young to be a doctor.
Parker: We were getting tips from people
saying he's not who he says he is.
This was someone pretending to be a doctor,
and it turns out to be true.
[ Siren wailing ] Morrison: What he did was so brazen,
there can't be many people capable of this kind of conduct.
Goldberg: This is the story of a real-life "Catch Me If You Can."
Dr. Harris?
Yes? Do you concur?
Morris: We had no idea.
This guy was pretending to be a doctor, and I said, "No way."
So, are you a doctor of anything?
Anything at all?
Um, I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to cut
this in-- this interview short.
Goldberg: Don't worry,
we'll pick up where you left off.
I'm Whoopi Goldberg, and this is "The Con."
-- Captions by VITAC --
♪♪
This case is a medical anomaly,
which is why we've called in a specialist
who knows how to diagnose a con --
Laci Mosley of the "Scam Goddess" podcast.
Mosley: So, Malachi Love-Robinson came from a very large family.
He had a lot of siblings.
His grandfather was a member of the clergy.
On the surface, Malachi Love-Robinson
seems like your average young kid.
Big, chubby cheeks, very bright future,
an extremely ambitious young man.
Walton: He had a tough childhood and suffered from health issues
for most of his life growing up.
It kept him out of school for quite a bit.
He had asthma, and he spent time in and out of the hospital.
He was a lonely kid.
His doctors became his heroes.
He looked up to them and decided at a very young age
he wanted to become a doctor when he grew up.
He is someone who is extremely creative,
really smart, quick on his feet.
Walton: At the tender age of 17,
he wants to go to medical school and become a real doctor.
Can you imagine?
He wants to help sick people, and he's just a teenager.
This kid's good.
♪♪
Goldberg: Eager to pursue a career in medicine,
Malachi goes straight to where future doctors are born.
Mosley: He took his talents to St. Mary's Hospital,
where he was shadowing OB/GYNs.
You can shadow doctors as long as you have patients' consent.
Goldberg: It seems like Malachi was on the fast track
to becoming a doctor and doing his best to fit in.
Walton: Malachi Love-Robinson got a doctor's coat,
had embroidered with his name on it,
had a stethoscope,
walking the halls as a doctor.
And you know what?
People believed him.
If you look like a doctor and you sound like a doctor
and you act like a doctor,
you're a doctor for all intents and purposes.
Goldberg: Only problem is that Malachi was absolutely not a doctor,
but he wasn't about to correct anyone fooled by his wardrobe.
You wouldn't expect for people
who are not medical professionals
to be inside of the hospital looking the part.
When you see a white coat, you say okay.
You don't ask, "First things first, are you really a doctor?"
♪♪
Goldberg: Turns out that his cover was working until he went rogue.
♪♪
He entered an examination room
and was reported to the hospital.
When St. Mary's discovered that Malachi Love-Robinson
was at their hospital portraying himself
as a physician, they decided to kick him out.
Goldberg: The hospital's legal options were limited,
but that didn't stop the media from running with the story.
Male Reporter: Malachi Love-Robinson's reaction
to being caught at St. Mary's Medical Center,
walking the halls for weeks,
even going into patients' rooms.
Faccidomo: So, as a criminal lawyer,
I think that Mr. Love-Robinson's fascinating to people.
There's nothing illegal about having a lab coat
made with your name on it.
There's nothing illegal
about putting a stethoscope around your neck.
It only becomes illegal
and it only becomes unlawful practice of medicine
if they were able to prove that he was giving medical advice
or doing exams or writing prescriptions.
My guess in this instance
is that they probably couldn't prove
that he had taken an overt step to offer medical advice.
♪♪
Goldberg: With no charges filed against Malachi,
he is free to follow his dreams in medicine.
And by summer of 2015,
the demand for medical workers in West Palm Beach, Florida,
was reaching a fever pitch.
Walton: There's this doctor in Delray Beach, Florida,
and she runs this addiction center.
She's got 60 employees,
and she's on the cutting edge of addiction treatment
to help addicts recover.
Heimburger: I can't stress enough how forward-thinking she was.
We would do brain imaging and different services
that had never been available.
Walton: They are doing really important work.
She's in need of a director.
Goldberg: As the doctor wades through the applications
for the position,
a résumé from a recent medical school graduate catches her eye.
Mosley: This man is Malachi Love-Robinson.
And Malachi Love-Robinson came in with a résumé
that said he had extensive training and experience
in neuropathy and holistic healing,
and he was charismatic, he seemed very eager,
and he had a PhD.
What is bizarre about Dr. Malachi Love-Robinson
is that this young man is 18 years old practicing medicine.
♪♪
Goldberg: Despite being only 18, on paper,
Malachi passed as a 23-year-old with a doctorate.
I wouldn't let this kid buy beer,
but somehow he's got a PhD.
Really?
She has a human resources department check him out,
and he passes.
Heimburger: He came in with a song and dance and with an idea
and a dream that suited these very grandiose ideas
about what this facility was going to be.
I think that Dr. Love-Robinson
was almost kind of like a hail Mary.
He got hired with a base salary of $70,000 a year.
So while he was employed there, he was giving patients
holistic treatments like baths or, you know, therapy
that was, like, outside of the traditional realm,
but he was not a doctor.
♪♪
Goldberg: Malachi's charmed the doctor,
but for some of his co-workers,
advanced degrees plus a baby face just don't add up.
Heimburger: Initially, he seemed very out of place.
He presented himself in a white lab coat, glasses,
which is very atypical for that setting.
And he's obviously very, very young.
I guess you could say the package that it was in
was what made me skeptical.
Walton: To assuage her employees,
the doctor asks Malachi for his degree.
And Malachi says, "Sure, no problem.
I'll get you a copy tomorrow,"
and produces the degree the next day.
It's like PhD, HHPC, AMC, OPP.
I don't even think he had enough life
to get all of these degrees.
Wild.
Goldberg: Now, Malachi was raking it in,
practicing medicine without a license,
until an anonymous tip to the health department
put him on the receiving end of a cease-and-desist letter.
So, because Mr. Love-Robinson is not a licensed doctor,
their jurisdiction over him is extremely limited,
so that's why we see that they issue
a cease-and-desist letter and some fines.
The worst they could do was write him a nasty letter saying,
"Knock it off."
Goldberg: Avoiding consequences
has become second nature for Malachi,
so he exits with a letter of his own.
Faccidomo: "It is my responsibility.
I just wanna thank you for the major wake-up call.
It was very stupid and childish,
and I offer my deepest thanks for allowing to clear this up,
so I will be enrolling into pre-med,
and hopefully by the end of next year
studying, taking the MCAT.
Thank you so very much."
Heimburger: He had gained all of this information,
all of this knowledge,
and, quite frankly, all of this practice.
Walton: So, after Malachi leaves that practice,
he strikes up a conversation with a complete stranger
in a cellphone store.
It turns out that he's an investor
working in the medical field, and Malachi seizes on that.
Goldberg: Malachi has a new con in mind,
and if you thought merely posing as a doctor was outrageous,
wait till you see what he does next.
♪♪
Goldberg: 18-year-old Malachi Love-Robinson
has big ideas.
And with a little support and a lot of money,
he's dangerously close to making them a reality.
Malachi is targeting this complete stranger
in a cellphone store.
The investor says, "I have a dream of opening up
an urgent care center," and Malachi seizes on that.
Malachi convinces this guy that he's a doctor
and he's gonna open up his own practice,
and he's an 18-year-old kid doing this.
And you know what?
He knew what things should look like,
he knew what levers needed to be pulled,
leases needed to be signed,
equipment needed to be purchased --
he knew how to create a legit medical facility.
He hires an office manager, and he hires a program director,
and he starts seeing patients.
It's very bizarre because this is a career path
that is very easy to follow,
it's not like becoming an actor or a professional juggler
or something that's extremely obscure.
If you wanna be a doctor, you go to undergrad,
you take the MCATs, you go to med school,
you do a residency --
there's a very clear path to this,
and yet he's really fulfilling his dream of being a doctor,
with absolutely no qualifications.
Goldberg: He may not have a medical degree,
but Malachi knows his way around Facebook.
♪♪
Walton: In order to find new patients,
he is very active on social media
and invests heavily on Internet advertising.
Mosley: Malachi Love-Robinson proclaimed
he had a degree in naturopathic medicine.
He was letting people believe
that he was a licensed physician,
and a lot of people believed him.
Faccidomo: A naturopathic medicine doctor
is not really anything
that's licensed in the state of Florida,
and it circumvents any sort of license requirement.
I could be a naturopathic doctor right now.
Goldberg: Malachi's clinic slowly builds its clientele,
and there's some good buzz
that this young doctor has the right stuff.
But not everyone is convinced.
I am Terri Parker.
I am the investigative reporter
for WPBF 25 News here in Palm Beach County.
I was sitting at my desk one day in 2016,
and my desk phone rang. [ Telephone rings ]
And a woman said, "Hi, I want to remain anonymous,
but I want to ask you a question.
Do you remember the teenager who was caught posing
as a doctor at St. Mary's Medical Center?"
"He was in there wearing a lab coat,
and they found out that he was supposedly
in some treatment rooms?"
And I said, "Of course. It was a national story."
And she said, "Well, he's doing it again."
At first, I didn't know what to think,
so I went to his Facebook page and voilà -- there he was,
in his lab coat, big smile, stethoscope with a crew,
a staff behind him, and it says,
"Congratulations, we are open for business,"
so it seemed legit.
Then I went through the list of all the online ads he had.
He claimed he was everything from an OB/GYN
to a psychologist to a natural healer,
and he had diplomas and certificates
to back all of this up.
Goldberg: The clinic appears to be properly certified,
but Terri isn't satisfied by mere appearances.
Parker: But then it occurred to me, "Wait a minute.
Let me go over to that office
and knock on the door and check it out."
We pull up and I go, "Hmm, it's a real medical building."
We go inside.
I look on the marquee that lists all of the doctors,
and sure enough, there's the name of his clinic.
I knocked on the door, no one answered,
I turned the knob, it opened, we walked in.
"Hello, hello?" No one answered.
Goldberg: Terri must be an intrepid reporter
because a dark medical facility sounds like a scene
in a way different true crime story.
Parker: I sat down in the waiting room,
and I see his placard that says "Malachi Love-Robinson"
with a whole list of letters behind it
indicating the type of doctor he supposedly was,
but I notice there's a piece of tape.
So, I peeled it off, and underneath, it says "MD."
Suddenly the door opens, and in he walks,
wearing his lab coat, with his stethoscope,
carrying a to-go meal,
and he looked surprised and said,
"What are you doing here?"
Goldberg: Are doctors usually surprised
to see people in their office?
Parker: I said, "Oh, we heard you opened this clinic,
and so we wanted to come see what it was all about,
that you're a young doctor
and we wanted to see about your clinic."
And you could see the wheels turning in his head.
He walked very slowly behind his desk,
he's looking down, he's thinking,
and what was telling was
he immediately started unbuttoning that lab coat.
And then he took the stethoscope off.
And I'm thinking -- I'm wondering why he's doing that.
And then he says, "Well, okay, I'll tell you about my clinic."
And I said, "Okay, let's get to the real gist of this thing --
are you a doctor?
Because people think you're a doctor."
That's when he started getting nervous.
He starts blinking and stuttering.
♪♪
I knew I was honing in on something right then.
I said, "Do you treat patients?"
"Oh, no, oh, no, I don't treat patients,"
he said, "not me."
Even under that stress, he doesn't really lose his cool.
Talk about a poised 18-year-old.
Goldberg: Terri returns to the newsroom
to tell her boss about the scoop,
but Malachi and his partner
were already racing to get ahead of the story.
Malachi's partner that he had met in a cellphone store
had called my news director
and was threatening possible legal action.
So, she hung up, and then we talked it over,
like, "What do we have?" -- "What do we --" you know,
"Were we in the right to be inside the clinic?"
and that type of thing.
But then the surprise was Malachi called back and said,
"Can you come tomorrow and I'll give you a tour of my clinic?"
[ Laughs ]
We couldn't believe our luck. He wants us to come back?
Goldberg: Bold move.
Is there a chance Malachi was misunderstood,
or was he yet again trying to charm his way out of trouble?
Terri was coming prepared to find out.
Parker: This was like a chance of a lifetime,
an agreed upon interview,
and he was willing to tell me his whole story.
I knew I had to get everything really nailed down.
I just had to try to catch him in a flub or a lie.
I couldn't put a story out there unless I had some hard proof.
For example, where did those diplomas come from?
I had to do a lot of research.
Well, I figured out that they came from a guy
who runs a so-called diploma mill,
and just for a few hundred dollars,
you can send in your application and get these diplomas.
Goldberg: Armed with research,
Terri sat down with Malachi, ready to call his bluff.
The interview aired on ABC affiliate WPBF.
I have nothing to hide.
I have no story to tell. I have no lie to give.
I have no, really,
no care to give. [ Chuckles ]
Parker: So you weren't -- you're saying
you weren't posing as a doctor?
No, ma'am, no, ma'am.
Oh, I knew I had my story.
Goldberg: Malachi has been claiming to be a doctor
while at his clinic,
but Terri is exposing those claims as lies.
Boom, she's gotcha.
I wanted to get to these questions
about his education, about his training,
about all the misrepresentations,
about his diplomas,
because they were from that diploma mill.
And he didn't have answers for that.
I said, "Well, where did you go to college?"
I don't want to disclose the names.
Parker: But you did go to college?
Yes. Yes, I did.
Parker: Malachi, you're only 18 years old.
It's hard to believe this 18-year-old
who has successfully not only posed as a doctor
but opened up his own clinic and treated patients.
It just doesn't make sense.
I have to admit, I was very, very concerned.
Malachi's holding himself out to be a doctor.
He's hiring staff and having a grand opening party
right there in this office that's open for business.
♪♪
Goldberg: With the looming danger of a teen posing as a doctor,
reporter Terri Parker sought to find the clinic's patients,
but she found another twist -- there didn't seem to be any.
Parker: That was one of the mysteries -- where are the patients?
Because I knew I needed a patient for the story.
Someone had to come forward and say, "Yeah, he examined me."
Faccidomo: So, to prove the offense
of practicing medicine without a license,
it can be challenging.
You need a patient who is willing to come to court
and testify that,
"That person who is not licensed gave me medical advice."
Goldberg: Terri has hit a dead end.
But while she keeps digging,
Malachi has found a way to keep working on the sly.
I was made aware that he was seeing patients individually.
He was making house calls.
That's rare -- most doctors don't make house calls,
but Florida is chock full of older people,
and they all remember house calls.
Faccidomo: Here you have Mr. Love-Robinson,
a very charming and charismatic, young supposed doctor
who's willing to come to your house --
again that's something that you want to be true,
that he's preying upon.
By him offering that service,
it just helps you lower your defenses.
Goldberg: The personal touch of Malachi's house calls
starts opening doors for him
in some of the wealthier neighborhoods.
He has a knack for giving patients exactly what they want.
Morrison: My mother Anita lived in a fairly affluent community
called Breakers.
And she was suspicious
of modern medicine
or the medical industry.
The doctors aren't interested in treating the illness --
they're only interested in treating the symptoms,
and it's all a money-making enterprise.
And this is how my mom became a patient of this Dr. Love.
Here was somebody who would basically make a house call.
That was enormously impressive.
And here was a guy
[Laughing] that was coming to the house
in his white coat,
and he's affirming all of my mom's complaints.
Really sealed the deal.
Goldberg: Malachi saw a loyal customer in Anita Morrison
and began racking up the home visits
and raking in the medical bills.
[ Doorbell ringing ]
Walton: Anita Morrison is ripe,
because all the other regular doctors
made her feel crazy for thinking something's wrong.
They've never diagnosed her with anything.
They didn't offer any kind of relief.
So, Dr. Love starts prescribing things.
He starts saying she needs vitamins,
so she writes a check for $200 for vitamins,
when, really, the vitamins cost 20 bucks --
Dr. Love's just taking the extra.
And stuff like that continues.
And he eventually convinces her she needs a colonoscopy.
She writes a check
for a colonoscopy for thousands of dollars,
but he just takes that money into his own account,
and she never gets the colonoscopy.
She's not aware that all this money's going out,
but not a lot of treatment's going in.
She thought he was coming to the house to take care of her --
he was actually coming to the house
to take care of her bank account.
I don't think she really wanted me to know
too much about this.
She knew that she was doing something
that wouldn't meet with my approval.
She would never volunteer to me that she was seeing a doctor
who looked like he wasn't even old enough to shave.
She would never in a million years
have shared that with me -- she would know better.
I would be on the next plane.
So, this is a problem because
she's got the checkbook down there,
and you know she's not thinking extremely clearly.
You wanna honor their independence --
she fiercely guarded her independence.
She was extremely sensitive to any intrusions by me.
Unfortunately, the logistics of it seemed to overwhelm her.
Goldberg: For a while,
it seemed like the perfect payday for Malachi,
but bedside manner will only take you so far.
What happens when there's a real medical emergency?
Walton: Love makes several house calls to Anita Morrison.
Eventually, she has an emergency --
she has severe pain in her stomach,
and I guess Dr. Love panics.
Because he's not a doctor,
and he could end up killing someone
with his crazy "doctor advice."
He calls 911... [ Siren wailing ]
...and he gets an ambulance there to take her away.
And while they're wheeling her into the ambulance,
she looks at Love and says,
"Hey, can you lock my house for me?"
She gave him the keys to the house.
Goldberg: Anita returns from the hospital
to discover her checkbook is missing.
She calls the bank, and $20,000 has been taken from her account.
Morrison: After the check was presented for payment
and already honored
and the money had flown out of the account,
she contacted the bank.
You know, there are very strict laws in place
if a check is forged.
Love did, in fact, write out this check.
He signed it. He presented it for payment.
He got paid.
Faccidomo: At this point, it's very clear
that there is a progression.
With Anita Morrison, he engages in an activity
that's just straight-up thievery,
and I think that brought a lot of heat down on him.
Any time you get a little too bold,
you'll catch the attention of law enforcement.
It really was a "Catch Me If You Can" situation.
The less that he got caught,
the more confident that he became.
[ Siren wailing ]
Goldberg: After robbing an 87-year-old woman
on her way to the hospital,
Malachi Love-Robinson is on the radar of the local authorities,
but until they can put him away for the forged check,
they need to halt his medical practice.
[ Police radio chatter ]
There were law enforcement and state officials
looking into him.
And later, we found out
they were investigating him simultaneously for grand theft,
theft against an elderly person,
and this is on top of
impersonating a doctor without a license.
The more attention he got,
the bigger and more bombastic he got.
Goldberg: Police need hard evidence
that Malachi is posing as a doctor.
So they're conducting an undercover sting
to catch him in the act.
Parker: One day, I just told my boss,
"I have a feeling something's gonna happen today,"
so I backed my car into the parking lot,
I got a Diet Coke, and I just sat there,
and I watched this parking lot for hours.
And I noticed, like, an undercover-looking
type black SUV in the parking lot,
and then two guys get out in full gear --
you know, with the bulletproof vests
and the guns and all that -- and they go in.
Oh, my gosh, my heart started beating so hard.
They came down and said, "We wanna cooperate with you,
but if you could just stay down here
while we conduct the arrest."
I said, "But what happened?
Can you just tell me what happened?"
They said, "Yes, we sent in an undercover female."
[ Police radio chatter ]
[ Footsteps echoing ]
♪♪
Woman: I'm sorry. Should I sit?
Yes, you should. [ Chuckles ]
[ Speaking indistinctly ]
Okay.
Goldberg: Well, I think I'd consider you a con artist.
Parker: Someone from the Sheriff's Office comes out
and says, "He just examined her.
And we're going to arrest him."
He came out, and I showed up with the camera.
I wanted my exclusive.
I had been working on this story for, you know, a month.
I stuck the mic in his face and said, "Malachi, what happened?"
He just didn't want to answer.
I continued to pepper him with questions.
"You promised the Department of Health
you wouldn't do this again, and you did it."
Mosley: One thing that I particularly enjoy
about Malachi Love-Robinson is his confidence.
He's advocating for his innocence,
saying that he's gonna get justice,
and he's really rallied people up
to think that he does not deserve this treatment.
So, while Malachi Love is awaiting trial,
he goes on a press tour.
I just want to say that I am deeply saddened
and a little disrespected
by some of the things that have come forth.
Now, I've been a criminal defense lawyer for 20 years,
and if my client ever told me,
"I'm gonna give a press conference,"
I would say,
"Tell your new lawyer to call me,
and I'll give him all the files,
because that is completely insane."
The press is obsessed with him.
He's getting mentioned by Jimmy Kimmel.
A teenager was arrested yesterday
for pretending to be a doctor
and running his own fake medical practice.
He's on "Good Morning America."
Are you a doctor of anything?
Anything at all?
I do currently hold, um, a PhD, um,
in what, I don't feel comfortable disclosing.
But you weren't in med school.
Exactly, so I am not, I am not por--
portraying as an MD.
There are many types of degrees out there
that hold the title as "doctor."
But you treat people at your office -- The issue that I face now is accusations.
He hems and haws.
His syntax and cadence are all betraying him.
He's lying, and you can tell he's lying.
I don't know where you're receiving this information from,
but it is inaccurate --
Um, I'm sorry. I'm gonna have to
cut this in-- this interview short.
I'm gonna have to cut this in-- interview short.
In no way, shape, or form should a scammer of this magnitude
be seeking out this kind of national attention.
You would think that this is a time to lay low.
Not for Malachi.
Parker: He's on a grandstand as though he's on a pulpit,
as though he's got an audience listening,
and I think that's what he wanted all along --
he wanted an audience.
Goldberg: Unfortunately for Malachi,
he wasn't the only one talking to the press.
Anita Morrison had come forward with her devastating story.
Well, he's forged my signature,
and he took funds out of my bank account.
Anita Morrison was so sweet.
She was just your definition of a sweet old lady,
and she had taken Malachi for his word.
She was horrified, and she was hurt.
I thought I trusted him.
He was very personable,
and I --
I didn't suspect he was a fraud.
Goldberg: The amusement towards a baby-faced teen in a lab coat
was drowned out by the sympathy for a betrayed old woman,
and he suddenly did not seem so cute anymore.
Morrison: So, the DA was highly motivated.
What this guy had done really struck a nerve
in the senior population of Florida.
They were heavy to get my mom,
and they recruited her very aggressively.
She simply had to participate in a videotape proceeding,
and so she did.
Goldberg: With Anita's testimony,
the undercover footage,
it seemed like Malachi was finally
gonna have to take his medicine.
Malachi, by this time, has a trail of crimes he's committed,
a trail of cons he has executed.
He's caught now, and he's facing jail for a long time.
When looking at those charges,
you're dealing with some very serious felonies.
Mr. Love-Robinson has a bond set of $21,000.
He posts the bond, and he's released.
Goldberg: Now that he's facing potential jail time,
you would hope this kid had learned his lesson.
But does Malachi even have the ability to stay out of trouble?
Goldberg: While out on bail, before his trial,
Malachi Love-Robinson needs to stay in Florida
and out of trouble
if he wants any hope of avoiding prison.
But there's a potential score in Virginia,
and he simply can't resist.
His new target?
Used cars.
Morris: In September 2016,
I had received an Internet lead
inquiring online about vehicles.
Malachi Robinson was interested in a Lexus
that we had available for sale,
and since I do the finance part,
I was in charge of running the credit
and making sure that he would qualify.
His credit application stated that he was a doctor
making $200,000 a year.
Mosley: Kind of ostentatious
for someone who's recently been charged
with pretending to be a doctor.
Goldberg: Just his tenth day out on bail,
Malachi again tries to pass as a doctor --
this time, only on paper,
but his application has a couple of hiccups.
I was calling the bank --
"Hey, what kind of approval can we get for this customer?"
And they said, "I don't know what you did,
but there's a tizzy in our office.
It's buzzing in here.
We're not really sure what's going on,
but there's something weird going on
with the application that you sent to us."
I said, "Well, I'm gonna look up this company
that he claims that he works for."
So I started looking that up online,
and the address for the location
was to some empty lot next to a Walmart.
♪♪
I even tried to call his job,
and the voicemail was his voice.
And I just -- I thought that was so bizarre.
I don't know. I just -- I had this weird feeling.
Maybe I watched too much "Law & Order."
One of the other salespeople
starts looking up online this customer.
He said, "This guy was pretending
to be a doctor in Florida,"
and he pulled up the article, and he's like,
"That's him, that's him -- that's the guy.
That's the guy that we have right now."
Mr. Robinson said,
"Well, how long is this going to take?
I have errands to do.
You just call me when you have the approval.
I'm going out to get my hair cut."
We were wondering if he was gonna come back
to the dealership or not.
They're just like, "Oh, my gosh, what do we do?"
And I said, "Well, I think we need to call the police."
[ Siren wailing, police radio chatter ]
Goldberg: Cops quickly discover Malachi was violating his bail
by leaving the state of Florida,
and they were happy to give him a ride back home
in the back of their cruiser.
Morris: So, the police showed up,
and the police asked me to call him back.
[ Line rings ]
"Mr. Robinson, we have you approved.
Just come on back.
I'm gonna get your paperwork started,
and we'll see you when you get back."
He said, "Okay, give me like ten minutes."
[ Receiver clicks ] And the police officer said,
"Well, I'm gonna go hide in the bathroom,
you just go in your office,
and when he comes back, we'll come in and take over."
Goldberg: In a matter of hours,
Josephina went from loan paperwork
to sting operation.
Selling a car usually doesn't involve
a cop hiding in your bathroom.
So, as Malachi confidently goes into the dealership
to sign the paperwork for his vehicle,
he's met with a surprise.
So, I had written the numbers down and presented it to him,
and just as I was about to say, "Okay, here's option A,"
the police officer came out from the restroom
and says, "Malachi."
And they put him in handcuffs
and walked him out of the building.
Walton: And they arrest Love.
Because of the preposterousness of Dr. Love's scams,
it's easy to laugh and make fun, right?
But you gotta remember -- there are real victims here,
victims who've lost a sense of well-being
and victims who've lost confidence in people.
It's literally the worst feeling in the world.
♪♪
His plans backfired, but he's gonna learn from them,
and he's getting better.
Goldberg: With cases in Florida and now Virginia,
the outlook for Malachi's freedom is looking grim.
Goldberg: Who is Malachi?
While out on bail for his charges,
Malachi Love-Robinson reflects on all the pain he's caused.
Just ki-- I'm kidding.
He drove to Virginia to try another scam
and was arrested almost immediately.
Mosley: Malachi went to purchase a $35,000 used vehicle --
talk about laying low.
He's been arrested two times in less than 52 weeks.
In less than one year.
Faccidomo: So, at that point,
Mr. Love-Robinson enters a plea
for identity theft, forgery,
attempting to obtain credit under false pretenses.
Goldberg: The criminal charges are piling up,
and the court cases are being triaged.
And it's not if Malachi will be going to jail,
but where.
At this point, it seems that his activities have caught up to him
and he's actually gonna be serving some time in a facility.
Mr. Love-Robinson enters a plea,
and he serves one year in a Virginia jail,
followed by five years of probation.
So, he gets convicted in Virginia,
spends a year in jail up there
before we can ever take him to trial down here in Florida.
Goldberg: That's right -- Malachi spends a year in jail
for his car-loan fraud.
This is before his phony-doctor trial even begins.
And apparently, he didn't leave a positive review
for his first jail experience.
This is a complaint that Malachi Love-Robinson files
while he's in prison.
He's complaining that he's being mistreated.
He says, "I have several autoimmune illnesses
and medical complications."
He persists anyway -- "I have been in jail since 9/9/16
requesting my medications and medical care
within a week of being here.
I was sent to Stafford Hospital for asthma,
where I was called a liar and a fraud by medical staff."
So, what's hysterical here is he's admitting
everyone's calling him a fraud,
the medical staff don't believe him,
and he's trying to couch a complaint based on that,
not realizing that that makes him look like a fraud.
Goldberg: Why would he risk looking even less like somebody
who can actually diagnose illness?
He's requesting damages of $30,000
for them not treating his medical complications.
My God, this kid's got [bleep]
Confidence to the point of delusion
is something that is essential if you're going to be a scammer.
That's one of the powers that Malachi Love-Robinson
has always possessed.
Goldberg: Apparently, there is no off position
on the fraud switch.
Malachi's complaint is diagnosed as bull--
[clears throat] nonsense,
and he leaves his year-long stint in jail
without the fistful of cash he was hoping for.
So, we were all just waiting with bated breath
for this Malachi Love-Robinson trial
to take place finally in Florida.
It became one of those stories that,
whenever he was in court, all the media arrived.
Everyone circled him, chased him to his car.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
Faccidomo: So, ultimately, he accepts a plea deal --
what we call a global plea deal to resolve everything
to three years in Florida state prison,
followed by five years of probation.
Reporter: In a last-minute deal, Love-Robinson agreed
to plead guilty to grand theft,
practicing medicine without a license,
and fraud charges.
Goldberg: Directly back to jail again.
I guess another dose of justice has just been administered.
And in the time it would have taken him
to attend medical school for real,
Malachi has instead served two prison sentences.
Malachi Love-Robinson is a con artist,
and I think if he put that kind of tenacity
into actually becoming a physician,
he would be one of the best in the world.
I think, like most scammers, Dr. Malachi Love-Robinson --
See, I can't even stop calling him a doctor --
he's not a doctor!
Faccidomo: What's really tragic about this
is now that he's actually served time
and he has this criminal record,
it limits his chances for redemption.
Because of his record,
it's gonna be really hard for him to move forward.
Morrison: There's nothing wrong with taking a person at his word
that he's learned the errors of his ways,
but the repeat behavior...
is much more deep-seated.
Maybe he can't help himself.
Heimburger: Yes, he is a con man.
But I do believe that, within him,
he does want to help other people.
So it is a shame that he unfortunately
didn't take that same passion and that same drive
and apply it in a more productive way.
He could likely very well be a legitimate doctor.
Goldberg: We reached out to Malachi about his future,
and here's what he had to say.
Love-Robinson: I let down my family, you know, I let down my mother,
you know, I even let myself down because I --
from never having a detention and a referral
to my first involvement with law enforcement
is 10, 12 officers with semi-automatic weapons,
you know, was -- it's -- it's -- it was a shocker.
I understand that I went about a lot of things the wrong way.
If I would have just stuck with what I was gonna do originally
and do everything the right way without trying to move ahead
and without trying to get it quick
and without trying to just be recognized for something,
you know, I do believe I would've been great.
I really wish that I would've just done things differently.