Thread: Couple scammed by fake Bronx baby doctor, cops say

Couple scammed by fake Bronx baby doctor, cops say

BY CHRISENA COLEMAN and BILL HUTCHINSON
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Posted Friday, March 30th 2007, 4:00 AM


Delores Rodas

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She promised to help an infertile couple have a baby - and she did inject a mysterious liquid into their bodies.

But the Bronx fertility doctor turned out to be a money-scamming quack, prosecutors charged yesterday.

Delores Rodas, 43, an illegal Ecuadoran immigrant with zero medical training, conned a New Jersey couple out of $50,000 and jeopardized their lives through her bogus treatments, authorities said.

"She carried out procedures in the bedroom and even drew blood and performed a fake surgery on the woman, claiming she was removing ovarian cysts," a law enforcement source said after Rodas was arrested yesterday.

"It's a very, very sad situation these people were confronted with," the source said.

Authorities fear hundreds of infertile couples were ripped off by the allegedly phony physician, who treated them in her Bronx apartment on a queen-size bed.

Desperate to have a baby, Gloria Cardenas, 44, and her husband, Gerardo Naranjo, 40, of Irvington, N.J., began seeing Rodas last year.

Naranjo told authorities that doctors had diagnosed him as infertile, but Rodas convinced him and his wife that was nonsense, prosecutors said.

The couple, also from Ecuador, began receiving treatment from Rodas in April, visiting her Bainbridge Ave. apartment, where other couples waited for their own miracles.

Rodas - who also went by the alias Carmen Lara - injected a mysterious liquid into Cardenas' vagina, arm and stomach, officials said. She allegedly injected the same substance into Naranjo's penis and genital area.

After charging the couple several thousand dollars, Rodas allegedly told them Cardenas was pregnant. But to keep the scam going, Rodas allegedly told them Cardenas had a miscarriage and convinced them to start the treatments again, prosecutors said.

Several months ago, Rodas sent the couple's hopes soaring again when she told them Cardenas was pregnant with twins, prosecutors said.

But on March 21, Cardenas was rushed to Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark bleeding from the vagina. Tests showed she was not pregnant and the couple notified the NYPD, triggering an investigation.

Rodas was arraigned last night on charges of grand larceny, assault, reckless endangerment, unauthorized practice, criminal possession of a weapon and harassment. She was ordered held on $50,000 bail and faces 15 years in prison if convicted.

Investigators asked anyone who believes they were scammed by Rodas to calls authorities at (71 590-2050.

whutchinson@nydailynews.com

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Another nail in the illegal coffin................

And people wonder why we have an attitude against all illegals? We have enough problems keeping our own scammers and malcontents in line without importing more of the same.