A Pensacola dentist who is accused of inappropriately touching three women also has multiple reprimands and a revoked Georgia license to practice dentistry.
Charles Stamitoles has operated the Stamitoles Dental Center of Creighton Road since 2001 and has legally practiced dentistry in Florida and Georgia since 1984, according to the Florida and Georgia boards of dentistry.
ECSO deputies arrested Stamitoles on May 27 and June 2 for allegedly inappropriately touching an employee and multiple patients between 2020 and 2022.
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One charge includes a patient who was inappropriately patted multiple times while lying down for a procedure. Stamitoles is currently out on bond.
These accusations and arrests are not the first time Stamitoles has encountered the law or the disciplinary action of a governing body.
Dentistry board documents show that he has at least three reprimands on his license to practice dentistry, spent a total of six years on probation, spent a total of three years and 30 days on suspension and has paid over $80,000 in fines and reimbursement of board investigations.
Attempts to reach Stamitoles’ through his attorney Friday were not immediately successful.
In 2019, Stamitoles paid civil penalties for failure to provide proof of insurance, and later that year he was arrested for driving under the influence, however those charges were ultimately dropped.
While practicing dentistry in Georgia, Stamitoles was accused of improperly installing the dental crowns of some patients — and refusing to install the crowns of others — during a period between 1984 and 1987.
He pled no contest during a 1989 investigation into those accusations and accepted all disciplinary penalties, which included a 30-day suspension followed by two years probation, a $2,000 fine and refunding any money the complainants spent on dental work.
In 1995, the Georgia Board of Dentistry revoked Stamitoles’ license after they deemed he falsified and knowingly submitted insurance claims for services never rendered to patients, failed to document restorative treatments prior to further treatments, falsified billing documents to patients for services never rendered and engaged in behavior deemed “harmful to the public” that “materially affects the fitness of the licensee … to practice business.”
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The Florida Board of Dentistry took action against his license in 1999 under a Florida Statutes, which states a dentist can be denied a license or be subject to disciplinary action for “having a license to practice dentistry or dental hygiene revoked, suspended, or otherwise acted against,” and failing to report action taken against a license.
The board found that Stamitoles did not report the action taken by the Georgia Board in 1989 or 1995, but his sanctions from Florida’s Board were simply a retroactive suspension to May 6, 1997, and a $396 fine.
In 2005, Stamitoles was investigated again by the Florida Dentistry Board for breaking Florida Statute 456.072(1)(c) which “subjects a licensee to discipline by the Board of Dentistry for being convicted or found guilty of, or entering a plea of nolo contendere to … a crime in any jurisdiction which relates to the practice of, or ability to practice, a licensee’s profession.”
This investigation by the Dentistry Board came after Stamitoles pleaded no contest — or accepted the penalties of a guilty plea without pleading guilt — to petit theft in 2003.
“Through his crime, the Respondent (Stamitoles) has demonstrated a lack of judgment and respect for the laws of the state and federal government,” his Department of Health administrative complaint notes, “and has engaged in a crime of dishonesty and moral turpitude by attempting to steal from another person.
“The Respondent has revealed lack of moral character, a sense of dishonesty and a disregard for the law,” the complaint also noted,” characteristics that are in direct conflict with good moral character and which casts serious doubt on the Respondent’s ability to practice dentistry.”
For this, the board fined Stamitoles $10,000, gave him two years of probation and furnished his license with another reprimand.
And still, according to another DOH administrative complaint, Stamitoles allegedly failed to keep medical records of examination results, diagnoses and restoration materials between 2005 and 2007.
He also allegedly falsified patients’ billing documents and services performed, falsely indicated patients needed replacements of crowns and falsified treatment notes.
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The Florida Board of Dentistry gave Stamitoles’ license another reprimand and suspended him for one year beginning in January 2013 followed by a two-year probation. He was also fined $30,000.
Stamitoles was reprimanded and fined again in 2019 for allegedly breaking a patient’s tooth during a tooth extraction and failing to fix or document the problem.
“The minimum standards of diagnosis and treatment in practice of dentistry requires that dentists do not damage adjacent teeth when performing extractions,” the administrative complaint noted. “Respondent damaged Patient W.S.’s tooth 20 while extracting tooth 19 such as to render the tooth non-restorable.”
The patient’s damaged tooth later needed removal, according to the complaint documents, and Stamitoles was fined $10,000.
Currently, the Florida Department of Health lists Stamitoles’ license as “obligations/active,” which according to the DOH means “the licensing board or department has disciplined the licensed practitioner and a penalty, which may include restrictions and/or additional requirements, was placed on the licensed practitioner. The licensed practitioner may practice his/her profession in the state of Florida under the conditions specified by the licensing board or department.”
The News Journal made multiple attempts to contact the Florida Board of Dentistry regarding the standards to maintain a dental license in Florida, but has not received responses to inquiries as of deadline.
Court records indicate Stamitoles’ next court event in the battery case is June 16.
Benjamin Johnson can be reached at [email protected] or 850-435-8578