On Thursday afternoon, Ronald Wheeler, 71, of Sarasota, was found guilty of Practicing Medicine without a License in connection to a July 2017 case.  Wheeler refused a two-year sentence to plead guilty before his trial and will be sentenced later this month.  Wheeler will be required to repay the victim involved in the case $50,000.

On July 18, 2017, the Sarasota Police Department Narcotics Unit and Street Crimes Unit executed a search warrant at 1819 Main Street, Suite 401 & 402, Sarasota.  Suite 401 is Diagnostic Center for Disease and Suite 402 is High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) Centers of America.  These were the medical offices of Ronald E. Wheeler.  Video of the July 2017 search warrant can be viewed at https://youtu.be/OdH_7nXKlrQ  

The investigation into Wheeler’s practice began due to an anonymous complaint to the Department of Health.  The anonymous complaint was Wheeler was seeing patients despite having his medical license revoked.  Wheeler’s medical license was revoked by Florida Department of Health on April 20, 2017.  The search warrant conducted on July 18, 2017 was to determine if Wheeler had been seeing patients since his medical license was revoked.

Additional charges of Scheme to Defraud $20,000 - $50,000 in Sarasota are pending.  Detectives say he offered medical services and alternative medical treatment to an additional victim between May 2016 and January 2018.  Charges of Practicing Medicine without a License are also pending after Wheeler bonded out in Sarasota and opened another clinic in Georgia. 

Due to the nature of this case, Detectives believe Wheeler has continued to see patients.  If you were a patient and had contact with Wheeler on or after April 20, 2017, please contact Investigator Mike Harrell at 941-954-7086. 

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