BEVERLY HILLS (Courtesy of KMJ's News Partner – CBS LA) — Authorities say a man who visited an upscale doctor’s office posed for “before” photos and asked for more than $4,000 in cosmetic procedures before bolting.
The staff at Obagi Skin Health Institute, a pricey dermatologist’s office known among the Beverly Hills elite, says he’s either really dumb or really confident.
He walked into their clinic Dec. 23, introduced himself as Jason Winfield, and asked for thousands of dollars in Botox.
“He was very nice. He was charming,” Nurse Practitioner Anita Gardner said.
That may have helped the man persuade the staff to let him get treatment without presenting any form of ID or credit card, saying he forgot them.
“We don’t think much about that; we just try to accommodate patients,” the clinic’s CFO Jeffrey Apodaca said.
A front-desk worker sent him through to Gardner who, over the next hour, injected Botox in several locations.
“He wanted it all; he had a little divot in his lip that he wanted filled,” Gardner said. “We have a lot of patients here where money’s not really an object.”
After racking up more than $4,000 in treatments, he was sent to the front desk to settle the bill.
“That’s when he said, ‘Oh, you know, I have to go move my car, and I’ll be right back.’ He never came back,” Gardner said.
Surveillance video captured his hurried exit through the parking lot.
He also left behind his DNA for investigators on water bottles and swabs, which the clinic handed over to Beverly Hills police, Apodaca said.
And the office is rethinking its patient procedures, including having patients give a deposit before procedures are rendered.
A similar “Botox Bandit” struck a doctor’s office in San Francisco, skipping $6,000 in payments, but Obagi’s staff says it doesn’t look like the same guy who visited them.
They’ve tried searching social media for a “Jason Winfield” who matches the suspect’s appearance but have had no luck yet finding him.
