Most of my readers anticipate that I comment on doctor CEO leadership, practice transition approaches, valuation and related topics. Today, I write to share with you the downfall of a dentist. This excerpt is so sad for me because I have worked with association presidents, both ADA and AAO among them, and many board members, chairs and many wonderful members in the great volunteer ranks of dentistry. I know the potential for dentists and their practices, the wonderful life they can lead in their community and with their family. This dentist turned his back on all that and for what? Now it is prison. The article in the Chicago Tribune, Nov 21st is titled Dentist-landlord for pimps gets prison, subtitle, Prostitution ring was run from his apartments in Marina Towers by David Heinzmann. Here is an excerpt, for the complete article see the Chicago Tribune.
Chicago dentist Gary Kimmel told a federal judge Thursday that he didn't know at first that he was doing business with pimps who trafficked in women and underage girls.
And by the time he realized that he was laundering money for criminals, he was up to his neck in a financial mess he couldn't get out of it.
But U.S. District Judge Blanche Manning sentenced Kimmel to 3 years in federal prison, saying plenty of evidence showed he knew for a long time what was going on.
In addition to renting apartments to pimps, Kimmel also bought them flashy luxury cars, using prostitution money to make the payments. And in one instance, he did dental work on a prostitute after her pimp knocked out her teeth. Kimmel's payment for the work was sex from another prostitute for an elderly friend, prosecutors alleged.
Defense lawyer Joseph Lopez described Kimmel as a naive "teddy bear" of a man.
But Assistant U.S. Atty. Julie Ruder said that over several years of doing business with the pimps, Kimmel regularly saw evidence of violence against the prostitutes. And many of the prostitutes with whom he had contact were clearly minors, she said.
Kimmel apologized, saying: "I'm terribly sorry for what I've done. I've ruined my life, and I've ruined my children's lives."
