A Dominican court on Monday, 21 October 2024 sentenced Elizabeth Silverio to seven years in prison (Najayo Women) for impersonating a medical doctor. The maximum penalty would have been ten years. Silverio was also ordered to pay two million pesos to each of the nine families that accused her of damages. Silverio was also found guilty of posing as a psychologist and neuroscientist at the Knowledge Land (Kogland) Neurocognitive and Psychopedagogical Therapy Center she operated with her partner and husband, David Baez Zorilla. He was not sentenced.
The case hit the media when investigative journalist Nuria Piera denounced Silverio was scamming parents in response to a claim a parent had made to her. Piera presented the fake titles from prestigious universities abroad, including University of Cambridge in England, Universidad de Valencia in Europe, the University of Florida and the West Indies University on her TV show, Nuria Investiga in May 2023. The Ministry of Superior Education would confirm that the accused had not registered her supposed titles as the law requires.
Silverio used the exequatur of a duly authorized pediatrician, Karen Elizabeth Silverio Peralta, who would present a claim at the Ciudad Nueva Palacio de Justicia.
Silverio’s lawyer Waldo Paulino said Silverio will not serve or sentence yet as they will appeal. “The case is just beginning,” said Silverio. She claims the parents did not present evidence she had damaged the children. Her lawyers attribute the sentence to mediatic pressures.
“We are facing a matter of power, and it’s important for people to understand and know this. I believe this is just the beginning—on my knees before God and standing tall before men,” Silverio stated as she left the courthouse.
She reiterated that she did not harm any of the children of those who filed complaints against her. “Now, the court is likely influenced by the situation of some parents who, by lying, make the court or the nation believe their children were harmed. Were they harmed until 17 May? Because before that, they were doing just fine,” she expressed. She asserted that she will prove her innocence in the Court of Appeals.
Silverio presented herself as the “center’s doctor,” evaluating, diagnosing, and developing treatment plans for individuals on the autism spectrum. The court determined that despite having no academic qualifications, she used a rubber stamp bearing her name and illegally practiced medicine at Kogland.
The court determined that Silverio’s academic credentials were fraudulent and that she had never graduated from any of the universities she claimed to have attended that qualified her as a doctor, psychologist, therapist or educator.
Silverio was born in Santo Domingo but migrated with her parents to St. John, capital of Antigua and Barbuda when she was eight years old. Her grandparents are from Antigua. She would return to the Dominican Republic in 2011. It is not clear she graduated from high school in Antigua, as no certificate of high school has been presented. What is known is that she did not pass the tests to attend community college in Antigua.
She is not known to have registered to study a university career in the Dominican Republic.
The parents argued her actions resulted in significant emotional distress for the parents, who believed their children were receiving professional medical care. The court ruled that Silverio had violated the General Public Health Law and the Penal Code by engaging in fraud.
Among the parents that presented claims are Yeimy Durán Rodríguez, Basilia Ortiz Núñez, Reginaldo Alcántara Betances, Samanta Moquete Duval, Jesús Manuel De Óleo Guerrero, Milicet Chantal Abreu Beato, Germaine Russell Martínez, José Ignacio Encarnación Batista, Gloriflor Luna Rodríguez, Yokasta Lisbette Cuesta Javier, Flor Altagracia Alcántara Hidalgo, Yuderka Yvelisse de la Rosa Guerrero, Brenda Estefanía Mejía Marte, and Pamela Milagros Sánchez.
Silverio learned her craft when working at another autism center before starting her own center. She was so good at impersonating herself as an autism expert that she served as advisor to legislators that drafted the National Autism Law. It appears that parents were so desperate to have found a center to take their children with autism that none double-checked the credentials the director said she had.
The affected families were represented by high-profile lawyer Felix Portes. He said the ruling establishes a precedent for other fake professionals.
The mental health of Silverio has also been questioned.
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DR1 News
22 October 2024