Ever wonder what motivates people to get plastic surgery? Did they regret it? What can we learn from the stories of plastic surgery patients? I'm Dr. Javad Sajan and this is clinic talk. I'm the plastic surgeon podcast. Welcome to the plastic surgeon podcast where we listen to real plastic surgery stories of triumph and pain from real patients and providers to further understand the motivations of why they would risk their life under the knife. I'm Dr. Javad Sajan and today is clinic talk with CEO Walter static Sabrina saajan. Sabrina, how's it gone?
It's going great.
We have a real wild story today about a terrorist sting operation that happened in the office. Is that right?
Yes. So this was a few months ago, we had a patient come in, and they scheduled a consultation. And they had
it was with the other doctor in our practice. Correct. I heard about all this on the underside.
Yes. And this appointment was with a different doctor. That's part of our practice. And this patient came in for our consultation for a facial consultation. You wanted to rhinoplasty, right? Yes. Correct. So he wanted a rhinoplasty. And then he also wanted to remove this significant scar that he had on his face.
And I was talking to the other doctor and he told me, that console was weird. With a patient specifically requested to look different.
Yes, the patient wanted to do multiple surgeries quickly. And he wanted to do these because he said he wanted to look different. That's correct.
And people come here wanting to look First, but I remember you asked to have a different face and be unrecognizable. And that's what he was meaning by different because oftentimes when people say different than want to remove a hump from their nose, they want a smaller nose. But he said very specifically, I want to look like a different person. That was our first red flag, right?
Yes. He said that. I want people that know me not to recognize me anymore.
That's crazy.
And we said, Hmm, we haven't heard that one before.
So he booked surgery same day, right?
Yes. So he came in for the consultation with someone else. It was. So two people that came in. The other gentleman waited in the lobby. And he told us staff that that was his driver and the patient was taken back for their consultation, because
he had a driver because he had just flown in from out of state for this specific consult
correct. And you have the consultation. And then you He was on on the phone during his consultation
during the console with the doctor was on the phone.
Yeah, he answered the phone while the doctor was in there. And then
Doctor J a lot easier going. Dr. J does not like that.
No. And then the doctor stepped out. And then there was the clinic staff was explaining everything to the patient of you know what the next steps are and how to proceed and all that kind of stuff. He's like, Yeah, I just want to basically book the procedure right now. And then the clinic staff member said, Well, I don't do that you have to meet with our surgical care coordinator who will then assist you with booking the procedure. And while this is all those conversations are happening. The patient is still on the phone. He's talking in another language to someone
where they certainly couldn't figure out what he was talking about.
Know, the clinic staff member didn't figure out what the patient was talking about. He just was talking Another language while the clinic staff members telling him what the next steps are how to book this appoint up surgery. Thereafter,
the clinic person has done the surgical coordinator goes in and gives the quote correct. And then he pays right away. And books are what happened next.
Yeah. So he asked if he could have surgery today.
Same day.
Yeah. And of course, a surgical care coordinator said, Well, we don't have openings today. We don't do surgeries today. But I'm Welcome to look at the next available date. And I can offer that to you. And he said, Well, I have to get it done within a week to two weeks maximum because I'm going back where I came from, and I'd have to get this done right away.
Did he tell us where he was going back? Was that in the US or was he going back outside the US?
He was within the US. He was going back to the east coast. He's said.
okay.
He's he has to go back to the east coast. So he wants to get surgery right away. And you know, she explained to him, this is the cost of bed and Because you want to get surgery, within, you know, two weeks or within a week or two, you have to pay with either cash or you have to bring a cashier's check.
And we do that because we've had people give us bad checks, correct during the check, sometimes balance after surgery because it takes up to
seven to 14 days.
And so because of that short window, he had to give cash or a cashier's check, which are guaranteed
correct. And he said, Sure, and then she said that while you need a deposit in order to book your surgery, so he said, Well, I don't have to deposit right now, but I can go run to the bank and give you the full amount with a cashier's check.
Same Day.
Same day, and so he leaves with his driver, and then after a few hours, he comes back with the full amount on the cashier's check and it's it's a legit cashier's check and it's perfect
and it wasn't $1,000 deposit. It was the whole surgery,
correct. He paid for the whole surgery with the Should track
progress or it was like a bank check was which bank was it?
Um, I'm pretty sure either it was chase or Wells
Fargo? Oh, yeah, I think it was no, it was HSBC. Yes. Yes. So they don't have a look at their locations in Seattle? I don't think they knew.
I don't know. Yeah, I think it was HSBC Bank account and he brought the cashier's check paid for a surgery with that. And he was booked me. He was booked for I think, four days after five days after the from that consultation because he wanted to get a rushed surgery date.
And we made an exception to squeeze him in. Right?
Yes. He was really adamant with the doctor. He was really adamant with the surgical care coordinator that he had to get this done within a week. So they made an exception for him and they squeezed him in and he said he was going to pay the full amount right away this whole time. Was he acting weird? He just was very adamant that you just had to get this done right away. You got the cashier's check if you take it to the bank to say Mirror was a normal routine. Yeah, so so we booked the surgery of course we had to do his pre op the same day because the surgery was so soon. And he was okay with that he did the pre op we did all of that everything was good to go he was scheduled and everything. went to the bank deposit the check, no worries at all.
I remember his nurse who was there for the consult. She told me that there was a comment that was off that he made he told her when I am going to sleep and waking up
yes I remember this.
say something
she's he said to her. He said could you let the surgical team know that when you guys put me to sleep that don't believe anything I say?
That's weird.
Yeah, is really weird. He said that Oh, I just when I'm put to sleep I just like say weird things. So when I'm saying stuff in my sleep when you just put me to sleep for the surgery, just don't believe me. Everything is just probably false information.
I've never heard anyone say that I've been thousands of surgeries.
Yeah. Yeah. So then he was scheduled for surgery. Everything was good. It was the bank deposit track and everything. After about, I think it was like 24 hours. After I had gone to the bank, we got a phone call. And the on the phone call, it was a private investigator. They introduced himself
from like, a private like a regular person, or was it like a detective?
It was a bank investigator.
Okay.
From HSBC.
Okay.
Um, it was a man on the phone. He said, I'm calling from HSBC being one of the investigators here. Could I speak to someone that handles your bank accounts. And I spoke to one of our surgical care coordinators who had accepted the check. She actually spoke to the guy on the phone, and she said, Oh, I was the one that helped this person to, you know, got this truck from him and I you know, verify it everything. Oh, another weird thing about him was he had two IDs, two different names on his ID
How did we catch that.
Well we asked for ID at the pre op, and he gave us two forms of ID and the names were different, but he had said that he was had name change.
Okay.
Um, so we had to pause. So then we had that phone call and basically the investigator on the phone said, Are you aware of who this person is that deposit check? We said no. is the patient here trying to get surgery? And the bank alerted us that the person had an warrant against them.
Okay. And that's all they told you. There's a warrant.
Yes. They said that there was a warrant against this person and that that check is fraudulent. This person does not have this money. This person doesn't even have an account with HSBC. This is a made up cheque and there's no money in You will not receive the money.
And then I remember you came to me and you were like, what do I do now?
Yes, I was like, What do we do?
The banker didn't do they give us instructions on what to do next, or what did the banker say to them?
Yes, the banker said that you should contact your local FBI or police department in terms of this patient.
And then when we talked, I was like, let's call the police because this is weird. We're not gonna let somebody get away with a crime. Yeah. And then we call the local police first
Correct, we call the local police.
you call them? Mm hmm. What did it What did you tell them?
I told them that the patient came in they deposited the check then we received what I wanted to posit track up, but that I received a call from my bank saying that this person has a warrant against them, and that we should call and talk to local police or the FBI, about this person.
Okay.
And police said, Okay, we'll be at your location and in a few minutes, and we'll go and get a statement from you.
Then they came here in the middle of the clinic day.
Yes.
They it was just a normal cop that came.
Yes, it was Normal cop that came, they asked a small information that we had about this individual. We gave them all the information and everything. And they asked about like, what surgery he was getting and all that we couldn't we had to figure out what information we could give them and not give them
We call the lawyer and we asked the lawyer.
Correct. So we only get be told to give certain information to them. So we gave them whatever we could.
And we have to follow a HIPAA right eye health information portability protection act. When we when we have patients here, we can't disclose details. We have to be very strict on what we say how we see and how we say it to Correct. So we made sure that we gave the only information I was told that we were allowed to give and then the police you know why he gave me his card and he left a few minutes late. A few like hours later, they called us again and asked us more information and then they asked us a picture of the check. So then I had to download it from the from the bank website. Give them a picture. The track I think they contacted HSBC to get information from them. And then they called us back. Third call third call. And this call was kind of scary. The, the, the investigator was now an FBI special agent that was on the phone and he had been alerted involved now in the situation, and basically told us that this individual has many warrants against them. They are also involved in bigger criminal activity such as terrorism. The said he was a terrorist.
Basically.
He was from the Middle East.
Correct. And that was that this individual is involved in terrorist activities and that they're possibly doing the surgery or trying to do the surgery to change their appearance so they wouldn't get caught.
That was like a jaw dropping moment when you told me that.
It was really scary. I couldn't believe I was talking to FBI like Special Agent on the phone about an individual that had just came here like two days ago.
That's wild. I remember all the staff got super scared.
Yes, everyone was so scared like what was gonna happen? What are you gonna do? his surgery was the next day.
FBI say what do they want us to do?
So, the FBI and the police, the Lynwood police, a Seattle, like all these different forces were basically involved in this case. And they basically told us that we're not allowed to cancel the procedure.
That's nuts.
And basically, the patient was under the impression that the surgery is happening. And the patient called us twice, which was two more red flags after that. He actually called to speak to the surgical care coordinator to ask if everything was okay with the payment.
That's weird. So what did the FBI want to do to catch him?
So basically, they told us that we have to just keep it calm, accurate. The searches happening, let him know the check was okay. Let him know everything is good. He's up for surgery and have him just come like a normal patient would come and basically they wanted to do a sting operation. And they wanted to catch him in the lobby. I remember
you coming to me and asking me if this was okay.
Yes, they want they wanted to catch him in our office lobby because that would be the safest way for for them to confirm that they would be able to arrest him. And they didn't want to like do it outside in case he was trying to run away and stuff. And I still remember till this day. We, the police had came four hours or five hours before this patient was going to arrive, laid out all their people. There was undercover cops throughout the entire building. The undercover cops outside of the building. There was cops on the main street and the back Street and then we had three undercover cop sitting in our lobby.
Now I remember when they said they wanted to cash them in the lobby. I said no.
Yes.
You guys have to. I don't want to jeopardize the safety of the staff here.
And I pay other patients too.
So I first said catch him in the lobby of the building, but they didn't want that because there were two exits. But then they agreed that they would let him come to our floor. And they would try to catch him right when he came out of the elevator. Right?
Correct. So they that's why they had they had cops standing inside the stairwell
through the morning or what was the atmosphere in the office when the school was supposed to go down?
It was they everyone was super nervous. Everyone's ears, eyes, everything was open. Everyone kept looking at the window like When is he coming? When is he coming? When is he coming? There was three undercover cops sitting in our lobby with normal clothes acting like patients, they
didn't look like cosmetic patients.
The funny part is, we had another patient and another caregiver at the same time in the building and the caregiver was still sitting inside one of the console rooms. I remember asking the caregiver, Would you like anything to drink and the character was no, I'm okay. If I could ask you something, as a chair said, What's going down? I said, What do you mean? There's nothing going down normal day, you know, just surgery to doing surgeries here, nothing else. He's like, I know what's happening. And I was like, What do you mean? He's like, oh, close the door, and I closed the door, and he's like, I'm an undercover cop. And I'm like, uh, he's like that everyone in your lobby and outside. They're all they all know me. I know them too. He's like, if you need help, I got you. I think we're fine as I was like, I was like, gather something, someone that they want to this stick. He's he already. He basically knew everything because he's part of that group. And he's an undercover cop himself. And he basically knew there was a sting operation happening, which is super funny. so crazy. Yeah. And then everyone's super nervous. And then I still remember where everyone's looking at. Like the time was happening was looking 1pm that he was supposed to arrive. It was like 1255. And if you were looking in the window and we see a car pull up to the front of our building, there was a driver there, the same person that came to him with a console, his driver was driving the car. He came out of the car, and he stepped into the building and then the car drove away to park. And he got into the
I was in surgery this time. Yes. So I was focused on my case, I had no idea what was going on. Because we have two operating rooms here. Yeah, for two doctors doing surgery.
Yeah, um, and all the other staff knew that this thing is happening and to stay calm and there was multiple costs and recovery costs in the buildings. Everything was every was was told to stay calm. And basically he came in. He got out he got on the sixth floor. He came out of the elevator Vader. And the undercover cops Of course, had his pictures and had the background information about him everything and they within seconds I would say within not even half a second. They all from every angle of the bill like of the sixth floor there was multiple cops that came and just arrested him on the back and then tried to run or anything. No, he didn't. He just it just it was really weird. We could see everything because it's clear doors, but he didn't try to fight it. He knew he was caught basically he did try to find a he didn't say anything. He just had a bag with him and then he basically just dropped the bag. And then the funny part was right after they arrested him right outside our our office. The cops are like there's five cops standing there. And basically they see they see the elevator open and it's his driver
What you guys on the floor, getting arrested.
the guy's already arrested, the guy's arrested and there's four cops standing there and these the elevator opened and it's the driver. And right before he's about to exit, he's like hitting the button. You can hear it, how loudly you close the door close door button. He was hitting it so loudly we're like, and then you just see the door closed and the three cops read to the stairwell. And then just after that they like took all of those people and they laughed and then
they got the runner.
Yeah, so that after that after about like 40 minutes, another cop came and just like confirm with us that everything is safe. We got both of you guys have nothing to worry about. If we need any additional information from you guys, we'll let you guys know but we really appreciate you guys cooperating with us and helping us get this person.
That's such an incredible thing. I can't believe we were a part of some terrorist person getting arrested. Oh my goodness. That was a wild day. Wild. What an incredible story. What do we have in the works for our next clinic talk episode?
We have something called code brown and many more to come.
Join us for the next clinic talk episode where we talk about code brown. catch us on all social media and watch me do surgery live on Snapchat. At realdrseattle. Bam what.