Toothpick Acupuncture "Doctor" Arrested

By Chuck Sudo in News on May 26, 2011 2:40PM

Niles police arrested a man who was posing as a doctor by posting classified ads in Bulgarian language newspapers and using toothpicks to perform acupuncture. 61-year-old George Fleming of Skokie admitted to police in an interview that he was practicing medicine without a license. He faces up to three years in prison and A $25,000 fine.

Fleming treated a man who responded to his ad in an empty clinic by using toothpicks as acupuncture and giving him a "prescription" that turned out to be a dietary supplement that expired two years ago. The man finally put all those low-hanging clues together and figured something was fishy in Niles. He and his son called the clinic, only to discover that Fleming wasn't employed there. When they made another trip to the clinic, Fleming locked the office behind him and fled down Golf Road on foot.

Pending the continuing investigation, Skokie police are not divulging how Fleming gained access to the clinic or if any other people were duped by him.