Jan. 19--An Osceola teen who drew national attention last year on charges of impersonating a physician assistant was arrested Thursday in Miami Beach on charges of impersonating a cop.
Matthew Scheidt was released from the Miami-Dade County Jail after posting $11,000 bail on charges of carrying a concealed firearm and impersonating a police officer. The date of his first court appearance was not available.
The 18-year-old was busted early Thursday in South Beach when he -- while driving what looked like an unmarked police car -- pulled up next to a real police officer working undercover.
"The undercover officer made eye contact with the driver, and noticed that he was conducting himself as an officer, using a laptop, speaking with the officer using police jargon, and even advising the officer to buckle his seatbelt," according to Miami Beach police records.
The Miami Beach undercover detective didn't recognize Scheidt, so he asked the teen whether he worked "here on the beach" while calling for other officers to help him with the impostor, records state.
"Are you a police officer?" the undercover cop asked Scheidt after being told by the teen to wear his seat belt.
"Yes," Scheidt answered twice. The undercover detective then told Scheidt someone had offered to sell him drugs, and Scheidt promised to check out the tip, records state.
The teen -- who previously duped Kissimmee hospital workers into letting him perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a patient in cardiac arrest -- had all the equipment needed to masquerade as an undercover cop, records show.
When arrested in South Florida, he was wearing and carrying numerous police items, including an Osceola County sheriff's badge, deputies' T-shirts, a .380-caliber Ruger handgun loaded with hollow-point bullets, a Taser X26 stun gun, a folding knife, handcuffs, a Motorola police radio and an ankle holster, records show.
He also had a laptop computer mounted on the dashboard as well as "takedown lights" used by officers in unmarked cars to stop motorists, records show.
One of Scheidt's attorneys, Mark Longwell, said he intends to enter a not-guilty plea and pursue a jury trial.
"It is important that we all respect the constitutional principles of the presumption of innocence and due process," Longwell told the Orlando Sentinel in an email.
History of impersonation
Scheidt's arrest in September on charges of impersonating a physician assistant at Osceola Regional Medical Center caused widespread changes at the Kissimmee hospital to restrict access to patients.
The Sentinel discovered records that showed Scheidt had a history of impersonating medical workers and police personnel dating back to age 13.
The Osceola County Sheriff's Office expelled him from its Explorer Program in 2010 for repeatedly wearing police equipment in situations that might lead people to think he was a law-enforcement officer.
In one of those incidents, Scheidt had a badge. In another incident at a St. Cloud dry cleaner's shop, an officer wrote that he almost drew his sidearm after noticing the teen was wearing a bulletproof vest, records stated.
In August, Scheidt, then 17, persuaded Osceola Regional Medical Center employees to issue him a badge that identified him as a physician assistant and used the badge to work in the hospital's emergency room for several days, records allege.
At the time, Scheidt worked for a doctors' office in Kissimmee and had been issued a valid ID for limited areas of the hospital.
Authorities later determined that he also tried in 2010 to get PA credentials from St. Cloud Regional Medical Center. That hospital also caught him pretending to be a nurse in 2007, just before he turned 14, records show.
On his Facebook page, Scheidt posted photos of himself wearing his PA identification, surgical scrubs, a surgical mask and cap for working in the operating room.
When Miami Beach police arrested him Thursday, Scheidt was carrying a copy of his Osceola Regional PA identification badge as well as an Osceola County Sheriff's Explorer photo-identification badge that he had reported stolen, according to records and sheriff's spokeswoman Twis Lizasuain.
The Osceola County Sheriff's Office began a criminal investigation against Scheidt after Miami Beach police notified the agency Thursday that the police radio in his possession belonged to the agency. By late afternoon, an Osceola County judge had issued a warrant for the teen's arrest on a single felony count of grand theft, Lizasuain said.
"I can confirm the radio belongs to the Sheriff's Office, but keep in mind it is a nonfunctioning radio," said Lizasuain, explaining it was an old model deactivated by the agency. "We will pursue criminal charges."
Lizasuain said the badge Scheidt was carrying was an unauthorized copy of the agency's badge.
"They're extremely similar, but absolutely that was not an Osceola County sheriff's badge," she said.
All of the items seized from the teen will be examined to determine whether they were taken from police agencies. As a teenager, it was against the law for Scheidt to have a handgun, records show. Police likely will ask the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to determine how he obtained the gun.
Scheidt is awaiting trial in Osceola on two counts of impersonating a physician assistant and four counts of practicing medicine without a license. His next court appearance in the Kissimmee case is March 6, according to the Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office.
Despite his being 17 at the time, prosecutors chose to indict him as an adult because of the severity of his accused acts. After his arrest and release last fall from the state Juvenile Detention Center in Orlando, Scheidt's mother, Kelly, moved their home from St. Cloud to south Orange County to avoid notoriety over his arrest.
A woman who arrived at the Orange address listed on Scheidt's arrest affidavit told reporters: "Matt doesn't live here, so please go away." But neighbors said they had seen the white Crown Victoria, which looked like an unmarked police vehicle, at the house during the past couple of weeks.
In the wake of his arrest last year, Osceola Regional Medical Center tightened procedures that had allowed the teen to treat patients. A report by the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration revealed errors that allowed Scheidt to obtain his medical credentials and access to patients.
Staff writer Susan Jacobson contributed to this report. [email protected] or 407-420-5257.
Copyright 2012 - The Orlando Sentinel, Fla.
