Dentists behaving badly: California Dentist Dr. Edward Bodek and spouse steal patient credit card information -- rack up $260k in charges

Edward Bodek, an Encinitas, California dentist and his wife, who admitted using credit card information from patients to buy luxury clothing and merchandise, were each sentenced today to a year in jail and placed on five years of probation.

Edward Bodek and wife plead guilty

Dr. Edward Bodek, 60, and wife Mary, 56, pleaded guilty earlier this year to financial elder abuse and identity theft. The defendants were sentenced by Vista Superior Court Judge David Berry. According to court documents, patients began reporting last year that they were seeing unauthorized charges -- mostly large charges ranging from $2,000 to $10,000 at a time -- from the dental practice on their credit card statements.

When patients called the dental office, they were told that the charges were errors that would be corrected, authorities said. A company that processes credit card charges for the dental office reported that there had been more than $260,000 in disputed charges in the defendants' account since the beginning of 2012, according to the court documents.

Investigators learned that the Edward Bodek and Mary Bodek rented 30 storage units containing clothing, handbags and fur coats, most of which still had the sales tags on it and had never been worn.

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Content retrieved from: http://patch.com/california/encinitas/sentencings-for-encinitas-dentist-and-leucadia-pizzeria-bookkeeper