Sarasota, Florida -- A Sarasota doctor who practiced medicine with a revoked license is going to jail for 7 years. A judge also ruled Wednesday that the doctor will never be able to work in the medical field again.
Two years after his arrest, Dr. Leonard Rubenstein's business sign on Siesta Drive remains up and also up a sign saying the building is bank-owned.
As for Rubenstein, 61, he's headed to jail for 7 years, then 9 years probation after being found guilty on 4 counts of practicing medicine with a revoked license.
"He's a manipulator," said Maurice Dentici, a former patient told 10News WTSP in 2013.
In 2006, Dentici says he canceled a series of tests, he sued Rubenstein to refund his money. Rubenstein paid up about $12,600 dollars.
"The guy should not be practicing medicine for multiple reasons. One he's unethical and two he overcharges people. He's a very unscrupulous person he really is," said Dentici.
Genevieve Judge, spokesperson for the Sarasota Police Department says, "The Department of Health received many complaints regarding this doctor they contacted our department."
Those complaints led to a sting operation by the Sarasota police in 2013.
According to police, Rubenstein did tell undercover officers he did not have a license here in the United States that's why he performed all surgeries in Cancun, Mexico. But he never told them his license had been revoked in 2012.
Rubenstein marketed himself as a plastic surgeon, specializing in ear, nose and throat and allergies.
The Florida Department of Health placed Rubenstein on probation nearly a dozen times before revoking his license in December 2012. Complaints included medical and ethical exploitation of patients and doing unnecessary procedures. Police arrested Rubenstein one year later.
The judge ordered Rubenstein to also pay $4,000 in court costs.
He was arrested in 2013 after undercover officers posed as a married couple seeking a breast augmentation for the wife. During the consultation, Rubinstein told them he would have to do the surgery in Mexico.
During trial, the defense insisted Rubinstein was working only as an assistant to a licensed doctor who was not always at the office.
