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Man with PhD in Finance accused of wearing medical scrubs and claiming to be surgeon

Posted at 6:16 PM, Jul 08, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-08 18:39:36-04

A Lakeland man claiming to be a doctor is fighting charges that he’s practicing medicine without a license.

Dr. Anthony Duruh has his PhD in finance, but his tenants say he’s coming around wearing a lab coat and scrubs claiming to be a nuerosurgeon.

“We honestly believed he was a doctor,” said Malinda Nelson, who started renting out of Duruh’s properties back in November 2015.

Nelson said she and her husband thought they hit the landlord lottery because Duruh offered to help with their medical issues.

“He started actually touching us like he was a damn doctor, like if you walked into an office with a stethoscope and everything,” she said.

But as Duruh kept coming around in his lab coat and scrubs, something seemed off, like the “Polk General Hospital” logo on the coat — a hospital that shutdown more than 20 years ago.

Then they Googled his name and discovered that he has no medical credentials at all, and that he’s a doctor in finance and business.

“Don’t fall under his trap,” Nelson told ABC Action News.

Polk County deputies arrested Durum late last month for practicing medicine without a license.

He was actually accused of the exact same thing back in 2013, but successfully won the case in a jury trial.

“Have you ever told anyone you’re a doctor?” ABC Action News reporter Ryan Raiche asked Duruh Friday afternoon.

“Yes… I am a doctor,” he said. “I have a PhD in Finance.”

Durum was adamant that he never claimed to be a surgeon, and said his tenants are lying because they owe him money, even though deputies found a witness to back up the witnesses.

Action News requested Duruh bring out the lab coat, and he did. It clearly showed the words “Polk General Hospital” on the front pocket. He said his wife used to work there before it closed.

He gave several reasons for wearing the coat: he likes to dress up, and even claiming that he’s back in a nursing assistant program.

“I was wearing my uniform going to school,” he said.

Even if it is true, a nurse assistant is no neurosurgeon, and a Doctor of Finance is definitely no Doctor of Medicine.

“Now only does he need to be locked up but I think he needs to go to a loony bin because something is not right,” Nelson said.

The Nelson family now feels trapped in Duruh’s rental property. They set up a GoFundMe page to try to get out of their situation. You can find more information through this link: https://www.gofundme.com/s8rj3us