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Lupinacci, 68, whose weekly live radio show “Learn to be Healthy,” aired on WMCA New York 570 AM, lost his license in 1995 after pleading guilty to 10 counts of criminal sexual contact with female patients.
Lupinacci served a year in prison and then was ordered by a judge never to practice again. A state appeals court rejected his attempt to reverse the ruling.
Beginning in 2003, Lupinacci “unlawfully engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery” under the pseudonym Dr. Alan Woods, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said following his January 2012 arrest.
“Dr. Woods” had been working for two years offering nutritional counseling at The Institute for Natural Health and Wellness at 541 Cedar Hill Avenue in Wyckoff when prosecutor’s detectives took him into custody, Molinelli said.
Lupinacci’s 50-minute “Learn to be Healthy” program also aired at 2 p.m. every Saturday for five years until Christmas Eve 2011. It was streamed live, archived online and made available as an app.
Lupinacci charged $375 for an an initial three-hour meeting, with follow-ups at $125 an hour, and sold clients various vitamins and nutritional supplements through his web site, Molinelli said at the time. He collected nearly $81,000 in that span, the prosecutor said.
A judge ordered Lupinacci held on $100,000 bail following the Jan. 17, 2012 arrest. He was released hours later after posting it.
A family practitioner who treated thousands from his West Paterson practice, Lupinacci made headlines in North Jersey when he was sent to prison for a year in the mid-1990s for molesting patients.
Authorities said he talked dozens of women into gynecological exams not for their health but for his own gratification. In one case, they said, a woman came to him for a sore throat. In another, they said, he conducted digital exams on a woman who brought her daughter in for a check-up.
A grand jury originally indicted Lupinacci in connection with 37 alleged victims, but prosecutors dropped several complaints from those in which the statute of limitations had expired. They dismissed others as part of a plea bargain.
Lupinacci admitted to illegal sexual contact with 10 patients and went to prison in 1994.
After having his medical license revoked following his release, Lupinacci requested reinstatement, using depositions from therapists. The situation had rendered him “virtually unemployable,” he contended
“I am a capable and talented physician,” Lupinacci wrote, “and, with the proper and continued treatment, I am confident that I can render competent and compassionate medical services to the public.”
Passaic County prosecutors vehemently opposed reinstatement, and the state Board of Medical Examiners eventually rejected the bid.
A state judge specifically prohibited “counseling patients/clients, in a nutritional counseling business, health shop, health care service or similar establishment and from using the title or description ‘doctor,’ ‘M.D.,’ ‘N.D.,’Naturopathic Physician,’ ‘Nutritional Doctor’ or any other title denoting licensure in any dealings with clients or the public in connection with any nutritional counseling business, health shop, health care service or similar establishment.”
The judge’s order also barred him from “displaying any signs, diplomas, cards or other documents containing the title ‘M.D.,’ ‘N.D.,’ and/or ‘doctor’ on the premises of a nutritional counseling business, health shop, health care service or similar establishment.”
The Appellate Division upheld the ruling.
The investigation by Molinelli’s detectives led to this week’s six-count indictment, which charges that Lupinacci:
“…impersonated another or assumed a false identity, Dr. Alan Woods, and acted in such assumed character or false identity to obtain a benefit for himself or another, to injure or defraud another;
“…knowing that he did not possess a license or permit to practice medicine and surgery or podiatric medicine, or that such was suspended, revoked or otherwise limited by an order of the State Board of Medical Examiners, exceeded the scope of practice permitted by the board order;
“…did purposely or knowingly disobey a judicial order or hinder, obstruct or impede the effectuation of a judicial order, or the exercise of jurisdiction over a person, thing or controversy by a court administrative body of investigative entity, specifically by violating a civil action final order issued by the Honorable Gerald C. Escala 7/16/04 and affirmed by the [state] Appellate Division 10/14/05;
“…did unlawfully and purposely obtain by deception property of the patients of the Institute of Natural Health and Wellness;
“…did direct, organize, finance, plan, manage, supervise or control the transportation of transactions in said property which a reasonable person would believe to be derived from criminal activity;
“…did purposely or knowingly use,control or operate the Institute of Natural Health and Wellness for the furtherance or promotion of a criminal object, specifically, theft by deception; impersonation, theft or identity; and contempt of court.”
MUGSHOT: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR
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