Operators Of Laser Clinics Arrested

TAMPA - Two people reported to the state Health Department that they were permanently scarred after being treated at a Westchase-area clinic run by a Hillsborough County Commission candidate and his wife.

The state Department of Health on Tuesday charged Rita Moroz Kruse, 45, who operates Tampa Laser Touch at 11309 Countryway Blvd., with the felony unlicensed practice of medicine and 20 misdemeanor counts of unlawfully dispensing prescription drugs.
State investigators that day also charged her brother-in-law, Michael Kogan, 49, who operates Perfect Laser Touch at 1155 S. Dale Mabry Highway, with felony unlicensed practice of medicine, records show.

Rita Kruse and Kogan are each free on $15,000 bail.
Don Kruse is a Republican running for the county commission in District 6 against Brian Blair.

A sales manager for Bill Currie Ford, Don Kruse also manages the business affairs of his wife's clinic and The Electrolysis Institute of Tampa with her.

The clinic was closed Thursday because investigators had seized the equipment as evidence.

The Kruses said the charges were a misunderstanding. They were confident Thursday that Rita Kruse and Kogan would be exonerated.

Department of Health spokeswoman Eulinda Jackson, however, said Kruse broke the law. "She's practicing without any supervision," she said. "She's beyond her scope."

The Health Department said Kruse allowed several people, including students, to perform laser hair removal without the direct supervision of a licensed Florida physician.

Direct supervision, under state statutes, means on the premises. A licensed physician, Charles Alvarez, was attached to the clinic but died in December, Jackson said.

In interviews, the Kruses said they thought they had 60 days to replace Alvarez. They also said they had hired another physician, who was due to sign a contract the afternoon Kruse was arrested.

Jackson said there is no grace period. "She cannot practice one second without a licensed supervisor," she said.

A few people complained to the Health Department that they had been burned during treatment, said the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, which assisted the Health Department in the arrest. Two said they were permanently scarred.

Asked about the complaints, Kruse said she only knows of one from a previous student. "While I was not here, she sneaked in with other students and were using the laser," she said.

State records show Kruse has a license in electrolysis issued in 2004 that is valid until May 31. She also has been certified since 2004 by the Society of Clinical & Medical Hair Removal Inc., as required by law, records show.

Kruse said she has allowed students to perform laser hair removal on each other, friends or relatives while in school, a practice similar to student hairdressers performing beauty treatments on each other.

"They never do clients," Kruse said. "It is free. It's no charge. It's allowed by law."

This is incorrect, Jackson said. "That should not be done, be it a student or the general public."

Investigators also said Kruse called in prescriptions to local pharmacies under physicians' names without authorization.

Kruse said the prescription was for a numbing cream that clients apply before treatment. The prescription and doctor's authorization are on file with a pharmacy, she said.

By VALERIE KALFRIN, The Tampa Tribune

People should be careful with the laser hair removal clinic that they go to.

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