SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A man who posed as a plastic surgeon and saw patients at a Del Mar cosmetic surgery center he owned pleaded guilty Tuesday to felony and misdemeanor charges.
Dario Moscoso, 70, was charged in 2019 with allegedly consulting female patients at the now-shuttered Del Mar Cosmetic Contouring Surgery Center regarding procedures such as "Brazilian butt lifts" and breast augmentations, despite not being licensed to practice medicine.
While he was initially charged with sexual battery counts regarding three of the four women listed as victims in a criminal complaint, those charges were dismissed at a Tuesday change of plea hearing.
Moscoso pleaded guilty to felony counts of treating the sick/afflicted without a certificate and use of terms and letters falsely indicating right to practice medicine, as well as a misdemeanor battery count.
He remains out of custody and faces a maximum possible penalty of five years in state prison at sentencing, currently set for next month.
Earlier this year, a plastic surgeon at the clinic, Gerald Schneider, surrendered his medical license following allegations that included allowing Moscoso to see patients. According to the Medical Board of California's allegations against Schneider, Moscoso's consultations with patients sometimes included seeing them nude and touching their bodies.
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