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Polk couple charged with practicing medicine without license

News Channel 8 photo by PAT BRAMMELL

The sheriff's office says the couple were running a business called Alternative Therapy Center from their home.

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TBO.com

Published: June 17, 2009

Updated: 06/17/2009 08:50 pm

Related Links

• Read Vela's affidavit
• Read Marquez's affidavit
• Fraud alleged

Enrique Vela

Ute Marquez

A Winter Haven couple has been practicing medicine without a license at their home, Polk County deputies say.

Enrique Vela, 68, and his wife Ute Marquez, 56, both of 1502 Dundee Road, were arrested today and taken to Polk County jail, according to a sheriff's office release.

The sheriff's office says the couple was running a business called Alternative Therapy Center from their home.

According to the release, the state Department of Health contacted Polk deputies regarding an anonymous complaint that Vela and Marquez were alleged to have made medical diagnoses, prescribed treatment, medicine and supplements, and used a machine called the Asyra System.

A Web site marketing the Asyra System, which has not been approved by the federal government as a diagnostic device, describes it as a "bio-energetic testing/health screening" device that measures energetic imbalances.

According to the release, two undercover detectives visited the center seeking assistance and were given physical examinations and prescribed supplements and herbal remedies.

Vela advised a female detective that she had inflammation, her body was full of toxins and that she had parasites in her intestines, the detective said. He told the detective that she needed to be screened using the Asyra device. Vela warned that if she did nothing she could die from the parasites.

Marquez had the detective hold a brass device connected to the Asyra system with a probe pressed to her thumb, the report said. Marquez informed the detective that the test showed she had hookworm larvae, Bilharziasis, and intestinal flukes in her small intestine. It also showed she had bacteria and anthrax in her body.

The detective said she was prescribed five remedies and charged $302. During another visit, the detective was tested again with the system and told she had improved but had enzyme deficiencies. She was charged $185 for that visit, the report said.

Vela and Marquez are not licensed medical practitioners nor licensed in chiropractic medicine or nutrition counseling. The only license Vela has is a Florida State massage therapy, but neither detective sought massage therapy, the report said.

Sheriff Grady Judd warned residents to beware of alternative medical providers.

"The public should be careful when seeking unconventional therapy from self-proclaimed alternative health therapy practitioners," Judd said. "Don't be afraid to ask for proof of licenses, educational backgrounds, academic research, and documentation. Consumers need to be careful — there are people out there who are ready to take advantage of their search for a healthy life."

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