‘Wellness coach’ charged over Covid exemptions
A WOMAN accused of pretending to be a doctor and giving out 600 fake medical exemptions for Covid-19 tests, vaccines and wearing a mask has been revealed as Maria Pau who runs a charity online.
Ms Pau, who is known by the name Maria Power, is listed as being a founder of Coaching with Substance, which is registered as a public benevolent institution or a “subtype of charity”.
The 45-year-old Gold Coast woman became the first person in Queensland charged under Health Practitioner Regulation National Law with five counts of taking a title indicating a person is a health practitioner.
But an unrepentant Ms Pau – who was charged after police raids – said she had done “nothing wrong”.
Ms Pau described the police’s execution of a search warrant on Thursday morning as “scary”.
“They took my laptop, they took my phones, they took everything, and all I’m simply doing is protecting the people that don’t want to suffer the adverse effects of Covid-19 PCR tests,” she told news.com.au.
“There were eight of them that came. They all had guns. They just came in. They were here for about three hours. It was scary.
“I was videotaping it because I – you know, just to protect myself. I didn’t know what was going to happen or what they were going to do, but in the end, they didn’t want me to video record anything.”
Detective Acting Inspector Damien Powell on Thursday told the media police were contacted by a member of the public, prompting detectives to launch raids on the Gold Coast.
He said detectives spoke with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency in relation to the woman.
“They made us aware that they had also received some information in relation to this person and a check of their records, which revealed that this person was not registered as a practitioner, a health practitioner in Australia,” he said.
Insp Powell said she held a research doctorate but not a medical degree. She was also not registered with Medicare.
Insp Powell said the woman was “anti-Covid” and did not believe that people should be forced into vaccinations.
People who received exemptions knowing that she was not authorised to issue them could be prosecuted, Insp Powell said.
Police said the woman charged up to $150 per certificate, police say.
Pau, who described herself as a wellness coach, said she knew “a lot about nutrition and healthy living to maximise our body’s capacity to perform.”
Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said police considered the incident “quite serious” and their main priority was chasing down the 600-plus people with fake medical Covid-19 exemptions.
“What are those certificates being used for?” he said.
“Because they really have no substance.”
Deputy Gollschewski said that an investigation was currently under way and Queensland Police would be taking evidence from the Queensland woman who had been charged.
“That will take a little bit of time.”
He said that because a lot of the scam was undertaken online, police would be able to conduct a large portion of it online through tracking people down and properly identifying them.
Deputy Gollschewski said he could not rule out that there were more people attempting similar scams.
“It’s hard to say how many people may be doing this.”
Pau, the founder of Coaching with Substance, said she showed “clients” the “enzymes, vitamins, minerals and weight management products” to help them “remain beautiful, slender and energetic.”
She says the products she recommends also “help those with addiction to stay healthy.”
Pau claims to also dabble in modelling and says she is experienced in the entertainment and fashion industries.
Pau is also the main feature of a web page called find10kfast.com, which refers to itself as the “most powerful and dynamic client attraction program ever created”.
The website has sub sections including “higher prices, “more profits”, “build a million dollar business” and “one-on-one coaching”.