STAPLETON — A Staten Island man posed as a doctor and psychologist, treating parolees and 9/11 victims and writing prescriptions for three years despite having no license, prosecutors said.
Donald Lee-Edwards, 43, was arrested on Wednesday and hit with a 12-count indictment for posing as a clinical psychologist and medical doctor and providing mental health services to more than 100 patients out of a Stapleton home, Acting District Attorney Daniel Master Jr. said.
“This so-called ‘doctor’ is a dangerous scam artist who never completed any medical school or doctoral program," Master said.
"He merely bestowed upon himself the professional titles of clinical psychologist and medical doctor. He is neither trained nor licensed to provide any mental health or medical services."
Lee-Edwards routinely diagnosed and treated patients out of the practice, which he listed as "Dr. Donald R. Lee-Edwards, PhD. & Clinical Associates." He took blood and urine samples, interpreted laboratory and test results and regularly prescribed anti-depressants to patients, prosecutors said.
He mainly prescribed generic Zoloft to patients — which is not monitored by the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement and the Drug Enforcement Administration — and avoided being caught by calling the prescriptions into pharmacies so he didn't need a prescription pad, prosecutors said.
Lee-Edwards, who previously worked as an eyebrow threader and a flight attendant, advertised himself as a Clinical Psychologist, Ph. D, MD, LP (licensed practitioner) and boasted about having experience treating 9/11 victims and their families, Master said.
He operated his practice out of the basement apartment of 255 Gordon St., where he lived on the first floor with his parents.
Since 2013, he treated several parolees, spoke to their parole officers and wrote progress reports on them, Master said.
The DA was first notified about Lee-Edwards in mid-June by several patients concerned about his strange bedside manner during treatment and his questionable prescribing practices.
In one instance, Lee-Edwards gave a patient a loose Vicodin — which has hydrocodone in it — to help pain, but mistakenly told them it was a Percocet with oxycodone in it, the DA said.
During their investigation, the DA found Lee-Edwards regularly breached confidentiality by discussing patients with others, drove and accepted rides from patients after sessions, met up with them for drinks, cooked meals for some and held sessions in his parent's apartment or the backyard of the house.
He also made house calls and had sessions that lasted more than two hours.
During treatment, he would often speak about himself at length, telling patients he spoke seven languages, graduated from high school when he was 13, went to law school, previously worked as a sky marshal and came from a family of doctors, the DA said.
Lee-Edwards, who was born in Jamaica and grew up on Staten Island, claimed he got his degree online but investigators could not find any record of him enrolling or graduating from a program, Master said.
The basement apartment he ran his practice out of had a waiting room with a seating area, a kitchenette, a front desk, rooms for treatment and security that included keypad access and security cameras, but no signage outside that said it was a medical office, Master said.
He was charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a controlled substance, unauthorized practice, unauthorized use of a professional title, scheme to defraud, identity theft, criminal impersonation and criminal diversion of prescription medications and prescriptions at his arraignment Thursday.
Lee-Edwards faces up to five-and-a-half years in prison if convicted on the top count of criminal sale of a controlled substance. He was held pending $75,000 cash bail. He's due back in court on Sept. 18.
He was previously convicted of grand larceny in 1990, the DA said.
Lee-Edwards' lawyer did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The DA asked people who were treated by Lee-Edwards to call Detective Steven Greco of the DA's NYPD Detective Squad at 718-556-7161.
