Fake Doctor Busted for Cosmetic Injections on Staten Island

Hi everybody, who wants to look younger? Yesterday a 42-year-old Staten Island man named Eduard Belfer turned himself over to police, who accuse him of posing as a doctor while working at the appropriately-named "Staten Island Pain Associates." Last month the state Education Department received a tip that Belfer was performing cosmetic treatments there without a medical license, so they set up a sting and busted him offering to inject an undercover investigator with Ristalin, which is similar to Botox.

A spokesman for the Staten Island DA tells the Advance, "He also treated and examined patients. He has never been any kind of licensed medical professional." When informed of Belfer's arrest, a receptionist at Pain Associates expressed shock and insisted, "We haven't done Botox out of here. We do pain management here." She also referred to Belfer as the practice's "office manager" for the past two years, but then backpedaled, saying, "He is a doctor, though. I worked for him a year and a half. Oh, he's a doctor."

Belfer was charged with unauthorized practice of a profession, a felony, and released on his own recognizance. The arrest comes in the wake of one woman's death after a botched silicone injection, and earlier this week the Health Department warned New Yorkers to avoid unlicensed plastic surgery. Public advisories about the risks of playing in traffic, drinking Drano, and sticking forks in toasters are forthcoming.