SAN JOSE — An Arizona girl has been criminally charged with mendacity about her credentials and utilizing stolen identities to work as a dental hygienist within the South Bay for no less than 5 years, in accordance with the Santa Clara County District Legal professional’s Workplace.
Elizabeth “Mina” Larijani, 50, is charged with 16 felony and misdemeanor counts based mostly on allegations she lied about being a state-licensed dental assistant or hygienist between 2015 and 2020. In line with prosecutors’ formal grievance and investigative abstract, she both labored at or utilized to 11 dental workplaces in San Jose and Campbell.
Larijani — who additionally goes by Elizabeth Garcia Costilla — was arrested in Glendale, Arizona and extradited to San Jose final week. She was initially in jail custody on $40,000 bail, however she was launched Monday and ordered to return to court docket June 13.
The Dental Hygiene Board of California started investigating Larijani in 2018 after receiving a grievance that she was misrepresenting her licensing and qualifications. The investigation discovered that in a number of cases, she submitted in paperwork the license numbers of two dental hygienists who had been unaware their licenses had been getting used. Authorities allege that each time the problem of licensing got here up in depth, she was evasive then left and went on to use to or work at one other workplace.
By allegedly mendacity about her standing, Larijani bypassed necessities that she full an accredited education program and cross examinations performed by the dental hygiene board.
The board investigators offered their findings to the Santa Clara County District Legal professional’s Workplace in 2019. After the workplace performed its personal investigation, prosecutors in 2020 filed 13 felony costs in opposition to Larijani alleging tax fraud and identification theft, and three misdemeanor costs of training dental hygiene work with no license.
When Larijani was positioned and arrested in Arizona, she was reportedly actively working as a dental hygienist.
“The very last thing somebody must be worrying about is whether or not the particular person cleansing their enamel, or utilizing anesthetics, is licensed to do this work,” District Legal professional Jeff Rosen stated in a press release.
Neither a information launch Tuesday concerning the costs, nor the investigative abstract accompanying the prison grievance, element any bodily hurt allegedly attributable to Larijani. The investigation cited no less than one dentist who was glad with Larijani’s work. It was not instantly clear in court docket data what sort of coaching and apply Larijani had accomplished.
Nonetheless, prosecutors are looking for potential victims who may need suffered bodily hurt underneath her care. Anybody with data for authorities can contact DA Investigator Krissi Durant at 408-792-2567.