A lawsuit filed by the state in 2017 charged Lookhart with “unlawful dental acts,” saying his patient care did not meet professional standards.
In at least one conversation, Lookhart joked that performing oral surgery on a hoverboard was a “new standard of care,” the lawsuit said, citing phone records.
Lookhart was also charged with medical assistance fraud for billing Medicaid for procedures that were either unnecessary or not properly justified and theft of $25,000 or more by diverting funds from Alaska Dental Arts, among dozens of others.
The evidence indicated Lookhart “believed that he could get away with his fraud indefinitely, and that he believed his scheme was foolproof,” Judge Wolverton said, according to the Department of Law’s news release. That evidence “was often supported, and often in excruciating detail, by Lookhart’s own texts, photos and videos.”
An attorney for Lookhart, who had pleaded not guilty on all counts, declined to comment Sunday.
He’s expected to be sentenced on April 30.
‘It’s crazy!’ hoverboard patient said
The Alaska Department of Law thanked several of Lookhart’s former patients who testified during the trial, including the patient whose tooth was removed while Lookhart was filmed on the hoverboard.
Wilhelm didn’t even know about the video until she was contacted by investigators, she said.
“I would’ve said ‘hell no!’ No, that’s unprofessional,” she testified, per KTUU. “It’s crazy.”
Stockler apologized to Wilhelm in court on his client’s behalf.
“It’s unacceptable and be assured that when I agreed to represent him I got in his face and told him what I thought about him for doing this,” he said.
According to KTUU, Wilhelm addressed Lookhart and told him she thought he “could’ve made better choices.”
CNN’s Artemis Moshtaghian and Harmeet Kaur contributed to this report.
