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Dean Alan Willoughby appeared in District Court with lawyer Jim Lowry, right, for charges of practicing medicine without a license in Lexington, Ky., Tuesday, March 3, 2009.  Photo by Pablo Alcala | Staff

• A Mount Sterling man pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of impersonating a doctor and sexual abuse.

• Dean Alan Willoughby, 44, was indicted by a Fayette County jury last week on 73 counts of practicing medicine without a license and third-degree sexual abuse. Willoughby was initially charged with three counts of practicing medicine without a license.

• In 1994, Willoughby was arrested in Columbia, S.C., for performing genital and rectal exams on men and women.

InfoCheckUSA.net’s Doctor Background Check Report would have prevented this!

clipped from kentucky.com

A recent Sacramento County grand jury report takes fire officials to task for lax oversight that allowed some area firefighters to boost their pay by claiming college degrees from so-called “diploma mills.” The report, titled “Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire,” stems from a 2007 investigation by The Bee’s Andrew McIntosh. McIntosh found that in 2005 and early 2006, 16 capital city firefighters applied for and got education wage incentive raises using degrees they had purchased from online diploma mills. It cost the city about $50,000.

Degree Verification from InfoCheckUSA.net would have caught this!

The worker, employed by a county subcontractor, has been accused of fondling a 10-year-old girl during a boat ride at the park’s marina.

DEERFIELD BEACH – All contractors working in Broward County parks will be required to provide regular reports that they’ve checked the background of employees following the arrest of a registered sex offender who allegedly fondled a 10-year-old Boca Raton girl while working at the Quiet Waters Park marina.

Park administrators made the decision following a meeting Thursday afternoon with county attorneys to discuss how Corey Hipscher, 37, of Plantation, got his job four months ago. Broward sheriff’s investigators arrested him Tuesday after he was accused of fondling the child during a boat ride at the park that afternoon.

The parks department expects the contractor in charge of the marina to turn over employee records Friday. Under the terms of its contract, Toby’s Concession Services Inc. was required to run background checks of people who work at its concessions.

The owner of Toby’s Concession Services said today that when he subcontracted with Hipscher’s employer, Broward Watersports, he thought that company had assumed the responsibility of conducting the background check.

“We really feel sorry for the girls and their family and the community,” said Cristobal De la Hoz, owner of Toby’s Concession Services, which has a contract with the county to run food, bicycle and boat concessions at the county’s parks. “We’ve been doing business with [Broward Watersports] for many years, they are licensed, insured and experienced. We expected them to do their own background checks.”

County Parks Director Bob Harbin said that ultimately Toby’s Concession Services is responsible because it has the contract. Broward parks have about 5 million visitors a year, and Toby’s Concession Services provides food, boat and bicycle concessions throughout the park system.

The contract with the county requires the concessions company to pay at least $258,000 by the time the deal ends in 2014. Toby’s must hire people of “good moral character” and run background checks of “prospective employees and volunteers.” The contract also requires Toby’s to hold subcontractors to the same terms.

“This is the first time this has happened in my 25 years here, and I was floored,” Harbin said. “I have a responsibility to provide a safe parks system.”

Harbin said his agency runs background checks on its own job applicants and rejects those who apply for a job dealing with children if they are a sexual predator or have been convicted of a felony or driving under the influence. He said he routinely rejects one or two applicants a week because of the rule and expects contractors to follow the same standard.

The arrest of Hipscher is prompting county officials to review their policies. Commissioner Ilene Lieberman said she wants the county to require monthly reports from contractors who deal with children proving they checked the background of newly hired employees.

“Learning that an employee of one of your contractors is a sex offender is a surprise you don’t want to have,” Lieberman said. “Look at what’s at risk. We should require verification.”

The marina at Quiet Waters Park remained closed Thursday.

The owner of Broward Watersports, Christophe Ribot, of Miami, could not be reached for comment Wednesday or Thursday.

Hipscher, labeled a sex offender following a 2003 conviction in a sexual battery case involving his then-girlfriend — who was older than 18 at the time — is being held in the Broward County Jail without bail on charges of child molestation and violation of probation.

Florida Department of Corrections records show that the terms of Hipscher’s probation do not restrict him from working or living near children, but 24 or Broward’s 31 cities do have ordinances banning offenders from moving near schools, parks, playgrounds, day care centers and school bus stops. Deerfield Beach’s enhanced ordinance on offenders’ residency, though, applies only to offenders and predators whose victims were 16 or younger.

Broward County’s hiring practices stipulate that felons convicted of any crime not be hired for positions in which they would have contact with children.

In the Tuesday incident, the 10-year-old girl’s family alleges that Hipscher begged them not to report the incident, which was witnessed by the child’s cousin, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Sofia Santana can be reached at svsantana@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4631.

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