Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse has charged a Pawtucket dental lab owner and operator with practicing dentistry without a license.
Steve Pate, the owner and operator of Pate Dental Lab was arrested by investigators from the Department of Attorney General this morning, and arraigned in Providence District Court on five felony counts of practicing dentistry without a license. Pate, 38, of 126 Smithfield Avenue, Pawtucket was arrested at his home, which is also the address of his business.
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After being processed at the attorney general’s office, Pate was arraigned before District Court Chief Judge Albert DeRobbio and released on $100 cash bail. Practicing dentistry without a license is punishable by up to two years in prison and/or up to a $5,000 fine.
This is the second time Pate has been charged with practicing dentistry without a license. The defendant was arrested and charged by the attorney general’s office in 1996 with one count of practicing dentistry without a license. He received one year probation and was ordered to make restitution to consumers.
Whitehouse is alleging that Mr. Pate accepted customers without a referral, made impressions for bridges and dentures, a procedure usually performed by a dentist, then manufactured and delivered the prosthetic device to the consumer.
In early January and again in February of this year, the attorney general’s Consumer Protection Unit received several complaints, primarily from elderly consumers, complaining that dentures they had purchased were faulty and did not fit correctly. Despite repeated attempts to have them repaired consumers complained the dentures continued to be faulty, according to a Whitehouse press release. The consumers, demanding a refund, either received only a small portion of their money back, or none at all, the release stated.
Each consumer paid $500 for their prosthetic device, and were required to pay either in cash or by personal check, according to the release.
The release stated nearly all the consumers complained that the failure to get their money returned was particularly difficult because they were on fixed incomes, and some had no medical coverage to help support the expenses.
The investigation revealed that Pate, who has been operating the lab since at least 1996, did so without obtaining a license to practice dentistry in Rhode Island from the Department of Health, Whitehouse’s office reported.
The matter was investigated by John Sullivan, a consumer investigator with the attorney general’s Consumer Protection Unit, and Robert Chin and William Sharkey, investigators assigned to the Criminal Division of the Department of Attorney General.
