Jury finds teen guilty of impersonating physician assistant

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — A six-member jury found a 17-year-old guilty of impersonating a physician assistant at Osceola Regional Medical Center on Thursday.

The jury found Matthew Scheidt guilty on two counts of impersonating a physician assistant and guilty on two counts of practicing medicine without a license. He was found not guilty on another charge of practicing medicine without a license. Another charge was thrown out earlier this week.

It only took the jury about five hours to reach its verdict.

Scheidt will be sentenced on November 14 and will be held in jail without bond until then.

Scheidt could now spend up to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors told jurors  Scheidt was deceitful and that he lied, obtained a badge and told people he was a physician assistant and even worked on patients at Osceola Regional Medical Center.

But defense attorneys attacked the case, saying Scheidt only claimed to be a physician assistant student, which they argue is not against the law.  They also said the two people who testified Scheidt actually identified himself as a PA had a reason to lie.

"Why would Dr. Scott say these things? Money. He works for the hospital. He could be sued," said defense attorney Migdalia Perez.

The defense argued the only time Scheidt interacted with patients was at the direction of hospital staff, who thought he was a student. They said his work was work a layman could do.

"Use your common sense. It's not against the law to perform CRP," said Perez.

The case went to the jurors just after noon. They stopped their discussions for a couple hours Thursday afternoon to watch the video police interrogation of Scheidt a second time.

Scheidt seemed content, and even hugged his attorneys after the case went to the jury.  But in a matter of hours, he had tears in his eyes as the jury came back with the guilty verdict and he walked out of the courthouse in cuff.

Scheidt is still facing charges in an unrelated case from South Florida. Only a few months after he was busted in Osceola County, he was arrested in Miami Beach and accused of impersonating a police officer and carrying a concealed weapon.

Stay with WFTV for the latest on this developing story.

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