EL CAJON, Calif. (KGTV) - A man accused of impersonating a doctor at Sharp Grossmont Hospital in East San Diego County pleaded not guilty to a felony impersonation charge Friday.
Zaid Jeorge had been seen at the hospital several times since Christmas, prosecutors said at his arraignment.
Prosecutors said Jeorge wore a Sharp lab coat which appeared to have his name and ‘anesthesiologist’ stitched on the front. He also had a picture of himself in the lab coat on his LinkedIn page. According to the page, he was a Harvard Medical School graduate and had been working at Sharp for about a year.
Jeorge is accused of phoning in and unsuccessfully trying to set up an account to access a Sharp database. Investigators do not believe Jeorge tried to treat patients.
A hospital employee saw him without a badge and became suspicious. Security guards at the hospital cornered Jeorge in the doctors' lounge and said Jeorge told them he was a Swedish intern.
Jeorge is an Iraqi national with a Swedish passport. He has family in San Diego and overstayed a visitor visa, according to prosecutors.
He is currently in custody on an immigration hold.
Sharp issued a statement to 10News Friday.
Sharp HealthCare extends its gratitude to local and federal law enforcement agencies for their work on this case. While Mr. Jeorge’s unauthorized presence on our campus was of great concern to us, we are pleased that we have no evidence of patient interaction or access to patient information. We are also continuing to evaluate this event and reinforcing and enhancing Sharp HealthCare’s security measures. Increased emphasis is being placed on badge identification and caution in responding to social media messaging.
