712 Digital Group - top

Dentist pleads no contest to metal theft

News

December 12th, 2014 by Ric Hanson

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – An Iowa dentist has pleaded no contest to stealing precious metals and dental equipment while working at the Omaha Veteran Affairs Medical Center.  Fifty-eight-year-old Randall Toothaker entered the plea on Thursday without a deal from prosecutors. He originally pleaded not guilty after he was arrested in July.

Investigators say he stole more than $16,000 in dental gold and other equipment from a locked cabinet in 2013. An officer stopped Toothaker while he was leaving the property. The Omaha World-Herald reports Toothaker’s attorney says his client wants to put the case behind him. He says Toothaker now practices in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Toothaker faces up to 10 years in federal prison when he is sentenced in March. The newspaper reports neither state dental board has documented disciplinary action against him.