Students duped:
Consumers who paid up to several thousand dollars to a pair of Scottsdale businesses for unaccredited degrees and medical certifications may be eligible for restitution, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office says.
Consumers who paid up to several thousand dollars to a pair of Scottsdale businesses for unaccredited degrees and medical certifications may be eligible for restitution under a legal settlement, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office said Monday.
State officials said the two businesses, Para Health Professionals Inc. and Examination Preparation Institute, charged students to attend seminars to gain credentials for medical jobs such as phlebotomists and pharmacy technicians.
The business operators told students that they could give them valid medical certifications that were the same as state-issued credentials to help them find paid work.
However, the students later learned the credentials came from an unaccredited organization purportedly based in the British West Indies. One student discovered her certification was invalid during a job interview at a local hospital, according to Attorney General Mark Brnovich.
“These so-called schools scammed students who dreamed of becoming medical technicians in Arizona,” Brnovich said in a statement. “Students paid thousands to become certified medical techs only to find out their certifications are effectively worthless.”
Two Maricopa County residents, Pamela Rae Davis and Ernest C. Este-
ban, operated the businesses and agreed to pay up to $60,000 in restitution. Students can seek restitution by filing a complaint and documentation to the Attorney General’s Office by April 17.
Neither Davis nor Esteban could be reached for comment. Davis was a licensed acupuncturist from 2000 to 2012, said Pete Gonzalez, executive director of the Arizona Acupuncture Board of Examiners.
In 2013, Gonzalez said his agency received a complaint that Davis was misrepresenting herself as a licensed medical doctor, but he said his agency could not take any action because she then was no longer a licensed acupuncturist.
At about that time, Examination Preparation Institute began charging students $99 to $800 per seminar for lectures and take-home work for careers as a phlebotomist, electrocardiogram technician, medical technician, behavioral health technician, health-care technician, pharmacy technician and in pharmacology, court documents state.
Students were told if they completed Examination Preparation Institute’s seminars, they could receive “national certifications” from Para Health.
The companies also charged students for education credentials, ranging from $800 for a high school diploma to $12,000 for a “PhD in medicine,” court documents state.
None of the credentials consumers paid to secure were issued by U.S. Department of Education-accredited programs, and neither Davis nor Esteban held a state-issued licensed to grant or offer degrees.
A consent judgment by a Maricopa County Superior Court judge prohibits Davis and Esteban from operating businesses that charge consumers to obtain education credentials and promise that certifications are the same as a state-issued certification.