Michael Camilo PrechtA young Danish man who tricked women into fake medical examinations by posing as a doctor at Mater Dei Hospital was yesterday given a suspended jail term in spite of having a history of such abuse.
Colombian-born Michael Camilo Precht, 25, lured three young models with the idea that he could offer them a job as he was setting up a lifeguard academy website. The catch was that they would need a medical check-up for insurance purposes – but, luckily, he happened to be a doctor and so could do it himself for them.
On this premise, he took the women to Mater Dei on Friday and Saturday last week after 6pm. He bypassed security officers with a Danish tag that resembled the one used at Mater Dei and examined them in a room he found unlocked.
He operated an ECG machine, asked them to lift their tops to connect the wires and used a stethoscope to examine them, touching their breasts and various other parts of their bodies.
The plan worked like a charm until he gave himself away when he wrote a dubious prescription on a paper bearing the hospital’s name: “You need a boyfriend who gives you a massage every day.” He gave the same advice to all three and they went straight with it to the police.
Initially, Mr Camilo Precht argued through his lawyer, Giannella de Marco, that the whole matter was “a misunderstanding”.
Dr de Marco said Mr Camilo Precht was a doctor in Denmark but his qualifications had not yet been recognised in Malta. However, she pointed out that her client wanted to plead guilty “to settle this issue immediately”.
But Mr Camilo Precht is known elsewhere for his creative ploy.
A basic internet search after inputting his name turns up a community page titled ‘Stop Michael Camilo Precht’.
The young Dane is described as a sex predator who needs to be stopped. He even earned the nickname “the stethoscope man” on various Danish newspaper reports.
However, none of this background or any previous convictions were mentioned when he appeared before Magistrate Audrey Demicoli yesterday.
He was formally charged with violent indecent assault on three women, practising medicine without a recognised qualification, assuming a public function without authorisation and using a falsified official document. Police Inspector Jeanne Farrugia, prosecuting, told the court that Mr Camilo Precht claimed to be in Malta on holiday. She said touching the women against their will in a fraudulent manner amounted to violent indecent assault.
He was sentenced to two years jail suspended for four years and fined €2,329.
Sources told Times of Malta yesterday he had packed his belongings and left his Msida apartment without paying his dues the minute he was approached by the police.
The sources added he had shown the landlords who rented the room to him a reference letter issued by a Swedish diplomat, which document appeared to be fake.