Kid, 17, Dupes Fla. Hospital, Snags ER Job

A 17-year-old boy has been arrested on charges of impersonating a physician's assistant and working in a Florida hospital's emergency room for a week, reports the Orlando Sentinel. Police say Matthew Scheidt dressed in a lab coats and surgical scrubs, conducted physical exams, and reportedly even gave CPR to a man suffering a heart attack. Scheidt told the hospital he was a 23-year-old physician's assistant from a nearby university, bragging that his mother was an executive at the company that owned the hospital and that he was a surgical assistant.

When the hospital confronted Scheidt about his deception, he claimed to be on a "top secret" investigation for the police. It wasn't Scheidt's first time faking an important job. He was kicked out of a program at the local Sheriff's office for teens with an interest in law enforcement careers, allegedly for trying to pass himself off as a deputy. "They're going to have real problems if somebody got hurt as a result of this kid," said one lawyer. "There's being duped and there's being stupid…If this is their level of competence, God help anybody who goes there for other matters." (More Florida stories.)