Man pleads guilty to stealing SC doctor’s identity

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A man has pleaded guilty to stealing a South Carolina physician’s identity and pretending to be a doctor.

Ernest Addo pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal charge of using someone else’s identity to commit health care fraud. Addo will be sentenced in June and faces two years in prison.

He was arrested in 2012 in Austell, Ga., and charged with practicing medicine without a license and illegally distributing controlled substances. Authorities said he stole the identity of a friend who was a doctor in Orangeburg, then ultimately treated hundreds of patients in the Columbia area.

The 51-year-old Addo still faces a number of state charges and remains jailed. His attorneys declined to comment after Tuesday’s hearing.

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Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP