Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - The Teenager Who Faked Being a Doctor - The Malachi Love-Robinson story

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

Malachi Love-Robinson, infamously dubbed "Dr. Love," gained national attention in 2016 when, at just 18 years old, he impersonated a physician and opened a Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Claiming to be a naturopathic doctor, he treated patients and even performed physical exams, despite lacking any medical qualifications.

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After three months plan auto renews It's a 1299 a month, terms apply. So this teenager is about to successfully pretend to be an actual doctor and even open his own clinic. Now, his name's Malachi. And Malachi's 17, living in Florida. And Bro really wants to be a physician. And one day, in 2014, he decides to just become one. Because he ain't got time to be going to college and all that.

He's not even old enough for college. So instead, he decides to just tell everyone he's a doctor. Now, I don't know how he thinks anyone's going to believe him. I mean, he's 17 years old, and he looks 17 years old. This is an actual picture of him. But I guess this is his plan. And so he gets himself a white lab coat and a stethoscope from somewhere, and he heads over to the local hospital. And there, I guess he just wanders around the building pretending like he works there. He goes in and out of patients' rooms. He chats with them, and he calls himself Dr. Love. So I guess that's that's what we'll call him now. Now, it isn't clear if Dr. Love like touches anyone or gives any medical advice, I think he's just kind of drifting around the building. But whatever, this is working for him. And so he keeps going back again and again, wandering through the hallways, acting like he works there. And this goes on for a whole month. But then at one point, I guess he wanders into an exam room of a pregnant woman and there's already a doctor

working in there, a real doctor. And the real doctor looks at Dr. Love and he's like, who's this child? And why does his lab coat say anesthesiologist on it? Because the lab coat he found actually says anesthesiologist on it. And so the hospital immediately calls the police.

And then the police come. And bam, they detain Dr. Love. This is an actual picture of him detained. And so he swears to police, yo, I've been a doctor for years. And the police are like, yeah, shut up, kid. And they release Dr. Love into the custody of his mom since you know he's so young and for whatever reason the hospital decides not to pursue charges now at this point dr. Love could give up this scam oh but that's not what he does otherwise I wouldn't be making this video and so the next year in 2015 he meets this guy

Perseus and he and Perseus become friends and he tells Perseus that he's a naturopathic doctor and that he wants to start his own medical practice and And Perseus believes him, and I guess he has like a bit of money, because he invests in Dr. Love's idea. He actually gives him $10,000 to open his own alternative health clinic. And so Dr. Love gets to work. He puts up a website for his medical practice, and he lists himself as the president, CEO, and founder, and he puts the title doctor on his name. And he says he has a PhD, but even if Bro had a real PhD, which he doesn't, that's still not a medical degree. And of course, he puts his picture on the site, which again, to me, is a dead giveaway that this guy is just a teenager.

But anyway, then Dr. Love applies for a government ID called an NPI number that will let him bill insurance companies. Because, you know, he's got to get that scam going. And I guess there's like no due diligence for NPI numbers because this actually works. He gets one. And he uses that number to get added to certain websites like Easy. and health grades, which makes patients think he's legit because he's on these websites with other legit doctors. And again, all of this actually works. Patients start reaching out to him for his services. Patients like this woman, Anita. Anita's 86 and she's unfortunately having sharp

stomach pains. And so she finds info for Dr. Love's fake clinic online. And she calls his office and he offers her an in-home visit because, you know, she's elderly, and so she agrees. And so he shows up to her house in his lab coat. And even though he looks like this, like a freaking teenager cosplaying, she believes he's a real doctor and she allows him to examine her. And he diagnoses her with having arthritis and he sells her some all-natural nonsense vitamins for her pain. I guess he's like selling vitamins too.

And she must be convinced because she's, allows him to come back like four more times for follow-ups. But here's where bro gets really shady. Each time he comes back to her house, he actually steals from her. Like he just straight up jacks her personal checks and then I guess he makes them out to himself and he cashes them. Oh and he doesn't steal just a little money from her. He actually uses this to make over $34,000 in car payments. And Anita isn't the only person he scams. That's just one example. But whatever, his scam seems to be working because people believe he's an actual doctor and they come and see him for his services. Until. Until it's 2016 and Dr. Love's 18 years old now. And at this point, someone must

have discovered that he's a fraud and that his credentials don't exactly match up. And so police start investigating him and his fake-ass clinic and they set up a little sting operation and they send an officer in undercover to his clinic and she pretends to be a patient. And one day, she comes into his office seeking treatment and she complains about some symptoms. And so he checks her out and he takes her weight and her blood pressure and, you know, pretty normal stuff. But after the exam, he suggests that she take an allergy pill. And I guess this is him officially practicing medicine without a license. And that's all the proof police need. And so, bam, they arrest him. Here's his mugshot. But the full of the full.

Funny thing is, as they've got him in handcuffs, Dr. Love just keeps the lie going. I'm hurt because of the accusations and the allegations, but like I said, this is not the first time where I've been accused and I will pursue this. He even later holds a whole ass press conference to defend himself. I just want to say that I am deeply saddened and a little disrespected by some of the things that have come forth. And now ultimately, his fake clinic shuts down and his business partner, Perseus, loses all the money he and invested in it. Oh, but Dr. Love still feels like he's got to keep this scam going. And six months go by, and I think he's 19 years old by this point, and he's still waiting on his trial for his last crime. And one day he shows up to a used car dealership in Virginia, and he's there with some

random elderly woman. And he tells the salesman that he's interested in buying a car. And when they inquire about how he's going to pay for this car, he says the elderly woman with him is going to to co-sign for it. And she's apparently really old and kind of out of it, and she has no idea he's trying to take advantage of her by using her name to try and buy this car. And I guess he tells the dealership that even though he's only 19 years old, that he's a doctor who makes 120 grand a year. But the manager of the dealership actually remembers a recent story from the news about a teenager in Florida who got in trouble for pretending to be a doctor. And so he immediately goes to his computer, and he Googles him, and of course, it's Dr. Love. And so he calls the police, and police show up to the

dealership, and bam, they arrest him. Here's an actual photo of his arrest. And also, here's his mugshot. And he ends up doing 20 months total in prison. Then in 2020, after he gets out, he gets a job at a shipping company, and he gets caught stealing from his employer, and so bam, he gets arrested again. Here's another mugshot. And this time, he gets a job. he gets sentenced to two years, four months in prison.