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Records: Male Nurse Posed As Doctor To Bilk Women

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 30, 2008

CLEARWATER - A 35-year-old nurse who lives with his mother was arrested this morning on charges that he passed himself off as a doctor to two women he dated before trying to acquire their money, according to court records unsealed today.

David Lee Main

David Lee Main was charged with scheming to defraud. He was being held at Pinellas County Jail, and bail was set at $100,000.

One of the women fell for Main's misrepresentations, but the other balked, the court records say. At one point he was seeing both women, the records indicate.

The total losses fall in the $20,000 to $50,000 range, the documents say.

One of the women, who knew Main from their college days, encountered him at the Hyde Park Café in Tampa in May 2004, the documents say. Main told her he was a practicing physician. The woman was separated from her husband, and by the end of the month she and Main were involved romantically, the documents say.

Main began pressuring her to leave her husband and promised her the life of a doctor's wife, the documents say. He offered to take care of her financially and to handle all her bills and investments to provide a better life for the two of them, the documents say.

He also encouraged her to take out a line of credit based on her home equity, the documents say. She agreed and received a $40,000 home equity loan on her property, the documents say.

In August 2004, she opened up a joint bank account with Main and used the $40,000 as an initial deposit, the documents say. She also arranged to have her paycheck deposited into the account, the documents say.

Main had control of the account, the documents say, and whenever she needed to pay a bill, he would write a check and give it to her. The bank account statements were sent to Main's brother's residence, the documents say.

Main ultimately withdrew the majority of the money – more than $40,000 – for his benefit, the documents say.

A different woman did not fall for his ruse, the documents say.

This woman met Main in November 2003 at the Bricktown 54 club in Clearwater, the documents say. They began dating six months later and maintained a relationship for 2 1/2 to 3 years, the documents say.

Main represented himself as a doctor and said he worked for a company in Pinellas Park that sent him to different locations, the documents say, adding that she often saw him dressed in hospital scrubs.

She told an investigator with the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office that he asked her for money totaling about $2,000, the documents say. When asked why, he told her he needed to pay for malpractice insurance. The woman refused.

He also asked the woman to co-sign a loan so he could drive a Jaguar, but she refused to do this, too, the documents say.

In December 2005, he proposed marriage, and two weeks later he asked the woman to acquire a second mortgage so he could pay off his medical school loans and malpractice insurance, the documents say.

He said he needed to pay off his school loans before he could get his medical license, the documents say. He said he could not work in the United States because of his outstanding school loans, which he took out to attend medical schools in Mexico, the documents say.

He told her that if all the bills were paid, she could stay home and not have to work, the documents say. The woman became suspicious, did some research and found out Main was a nurse, not a doctor, the documents say.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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