DENTAL HYGIENIST SENTENCED IN
CALVERT COUNTY FOR PRACTICING WITHOUT A LICENSE

Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that Tracy Deiter Grimes, 35, of Port Republic, Maryland plead guilty before Calvert County District Court Judge Stephen L. Clagett, to one count of practicing dental hygiene in Maryland without a license and one count of misrepresenting herself as authorized to practice dental hygiene. The court imposed a $1,000 fine upon the defendant on the first count, the maximum sentence for the offense, suspended a $1,000 fine on the second count, and placed her on supervised probation for two years. Judge Clagett also reprimanded Ms. Grimes for subjecting the dental practices where she had worked to collateral claims due to her unauthorized practice.

According to the statement of facts, on February 19, 2001, the dentists in a Prince Frederick dental practice hired the defendant for the position of dental hygienist. They hired her based upon Grimes’ claims that she had the requisite training and that she was licensed in Maryland as a dental hygienist, and because she had previously practiced dental hygiene at other dental offices in the area. In fact, Tracy Grimes has never been licensed to practice dental hygiene, nor is she a graduate of a dental hygiene program, as she had falsely represented to former employers since 1997.

The defendant conducted dental hygiene procedures at the dental office until August 2, 2001, when the partners discovered that she was not licensed. The license that she presented them was bogus.

"Ms. Grimes broke the law by lying about her background and she put patients at risk by practicing services she was untrained and unlicensed to perform," Attorney General Curran said.

The case was prosecuted by the Criminal Investigations Division of the Attorney General’s Office, with assistance by the State of Maryland Board of Dental Examiners.

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