A second provider associated with Whidbey Naturals in Oak Harbor was arrested last week on suspicion of practicing medicine without a license, the Oak Harbor Police Department reported.
C. Hugh Jonson, 75, who claimed to be a former Navy doctor and licensed naturopath, was arrested last week.
It wasn’t the first time, according to police.
Under a slightly different spelling, Hugh Clarence Johnson was convicted of multiple felonies in 1995 in Sonoma County Superior Court, Calif. Those crimes were associated with practicing medicine without a license, according to court documents and news reports.
Oak Harbor Police Detective Mike Bailey confirmed that the Hugh Clarence Johnson convicted in California is the same man who was arrested in Oak Harbor.
Johnson was charged with 47 felonies in Sonoma County, “including fraud, forgery and possession firearms,” according to 1995 reports published in the Press Democrat of Santa Rosa, Calif.
Another provider at the Oak Harbor holistic medicine clinic, Arely Jimenez-Beckius, was arrested Feb. 16 on suspicion of practicing medicine without a license.
Reached by telephone, Jimenez-Beckius declined to comment and referred questions to her attorney, who could not be reached.
Police began investigating of Whidbey Naturals after receiving information in January from the state Department of Health Systems Quality Assurance about the business “possibly conducting naturopathic treatment without proper licensing/qualifications,” according to a police statement.
Police served a search warrant at the State Highway 20 location.
A provider credential search for Jonson and Jimenez-Beckius on the state Department of Health website yielded no licenses to practice medicine.
Jimenez-Beckius does hold a valid license as a marriage and family therapist.
During a December interview with the Whidbey News-Times, Jonson said he came out of retirement to help get a natural medicine clinic off the ground, but that Jimenez-Beckius would be the main health care provider.
The new clinic also employed nurse Barbara Fragala, who said she met Jonson at church.
Fragala, who could not be reached for comment, does not have license to practice nursing in the state.
Jonson told the reporter he was a Navy-trained emergency room doctor, prisoner of war during the Vietnam war, a Green Beret, and that he had received both the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Silver Star.
The Distinguished Flying Cross Society lists a C. Hugh Johnson as the recipient of the award in 1968 for service in Vietnam.
The Press Democrat reported that Sonoma County court documents revealed that Johnson made diagnosis with “a medical device resembling a cookie cutter” and fraudulently prescribed everything from Vicodin to cobra venom.
Johnson has a history of legal issues dating to 1975, according to the Press Democrat. He was convicted of brandishing a firearm in 1975 and fraud in 1984, the newspaper reported, citing court documents.
In 1986, Northern California’s federal District Court “found him guilty of making false statements to a federal agency after he was found of have a fake police badge and forged medical examiner’s badge,” the Press Democrat reported.
Investigators are asking for information from anyone who was treated at Whidbey Natural Alternatives for any medical condition. A detective can be reached at 360-279-4600.
