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Police arrest 2 in fake vet business

Sherrills Ford

By Richard Gould | Hickory Daily Record

Published: May 6, 2009

It is still not known how many surgeries they performed, how many animals they treated or how long they had been at it, but the arrest of Derrick Scott Webster, 30, and Tina Marie Alexander, 31, of Sherrills Ford for unlicensed practice of veterinary medicine has closed down their illegal operation
Lincoln County deputies arrested Webster, of Hopewell Church Road, for posing as a veterinarian on April 27. Friday Catawba County Sheriff's deputies served him with an arrest warrant for three more crimes.

According to the warrants, he performed surgery on a horse, vaccinated two horses with tetanus and rhino vaccines and treated two horses for worms.

Alexander, 31, of Ted Lane was also arrested Friday by Catawba County Sheriff's deputies. She is accused of performing surgery on a horse.

Chief Investigator Kenneth Wheeler of the N.C. Veterinary Medicine Board and Lincoln County Animal Services Director Jack Kerley investigated the pair and their combined efforts led to their arrest a veterinarian tipped off investigators about what they were up to.

Kerley said suspicions about Webster and Alexander began when the couple treated a horse because the animal's usual veterinarian was unavailable that day.

"Apparently, he removed a spot or a growth on a horse that didn't look right and said it was cancer," said Thomas Mickey, North Caroline Veterinary Medical Board Executive director.

Kerley said Webster made some obvious mistakes in his treatment of the horse and gave the horse inoculations in the neck area. The horse became sluggish and had trouble moving its head and neck prompting the owner to call her usual veterinarian to have a look Kerley said.

He treated the horse and sent Webster's business card to the NCVMB with a letter describing the incident and asking if Webster was actually a vet, Mickey said.

Six days later Kerley and Wheeler were at the property where the horse had been treated when Webster and Alexander arrived. "They were coming out to take a look at the horse that he had treated," Mickey said.

Webster was arrested immediately. "He needed to be arrested on site and stopped right there," Kerley said. "She went home and warrants were drawn and served on her."

Kerley said Webster and Alexander denied to authorities they have a romantic relationship.

Mickey said the NCVMB deals with about 20 cases per year of people practicing veterinary medicine without a license but the length Webster and Alexander went to to deceive their victims was unique.

What them apart from most of the others were the lengths Webster went to look convincing, like wearing medical scrubs with his name embroidered on them beside the initials DVM — Doctor of Veterinary Medicine.

Mickey said Alexander was working for Webster and using the title "Vet Tech." "Her name was on the business card," he said.

It is not known how many animals Webster and Alexander treated or the condition of those animals but the investigation is ongoing and more charges may be forthcoming said Kerley.

He said he's begun contacting the people the pair duped and recommending anyone who used Webster for treatment for their animal should contact a licensed veterinarian for a follow-up.