Deputies say they are investigating suspicious activity at Parrish medical office
A doctor at the Davita Medical Group in Parrish is being investigated by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office after a bizarre incident this week.
According to the sheriff’s office, deputies responded to the office located at 8342 US 301 N. on Tuesday.
The doctor, a specialist in internal medicine and infectious diseases, suffered a “medical episode” while at work and while an employee was assisting, they found a black pouch in his pocket that had a white powder and test tubes, according to the sheriff’s office.
The assisting employee was checking for any medications the doctor may have taken to contribute to the “episode” when the black pouch was found, according to the report.
Deputies say the assisting person began questioning the doctor on what the substance was and when he would not say, he was told he would need to be drug tested and that law enforcement was being called to discard the substance properly.
The doctor, according to the report, got up, grabbed the black pouch with its contents that he said he purchased from China and ran out the front door.
“Moments later, staff noticed that his car was missing,” the report states.
A photograph of the black pouch and its contents were taken and handed over to the sheriff’s office.
On Friday, sheriff’s office spokesman Randy Warren said detectives were looking into the incident, but they were early in the investigatory process.
“This will take some time,” Warren said.
The Bradenton Herald is not naming the doctor, because he has not been arrested and no charges have been filed.
The Bradenton Herald reached out to the Davita Medical Group office in Parrish and were referred to Davita’s corporate office in Colorado.
“The health and safety of our patients is our highest priority,” said Nicholas DiArchangel, Davita director of communications. “We’re conducting an internal investigation into this matter and cooperating with authorities.”
This story was originally published November 22, 2019 at 1:14 PM.