By Steve Vogel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 9, 2007

A Montgomery County man who police say has been treating victims of facial paralysis for more than 20 years has been arrested for practicing physical therapy without a license and misrepresenting himself as a medical doctor, authorities said yesterday.

Robert Scott Targan, 68, whose office is in Montgomery Village, has been charged with four counts of felony theft, three counts of practicing physical therapy without a license, theft scheme, unauthorized use of a credit card and misusing the title "doctor."

Targan operates a group known as the Bell's Palsy Research Foundation, which offers to assist people suffering from syndromes and palsies causing facial paralysis. Some patients drawn by Internet searches or referrals from physicians have paid thousands of dollars for days of treatment with electrical muscular stimulation devices affixed to their face or chest, according to police.

Barry H. Helfand, Targan's attorney, said yesterday that "the state has it all wrong" and that his client will be cleared. "He didn't hold himself out as a medical doctor, and he doesn't believe he was holding himself out as a physical therapist."

Helfand said he was puzzled by the allegations of theft. "I don't understand where it's theft," he said.

Targan's Web site includes testimonials from doctors at Northwestern University and the Medical College of Georgia, among others. One of the doctors, James C. Andrews, a neurologist and clinical professor of surgery at the University of California at Los Angeles, wrote that the efforts by Targan and his group "have significantly advanced the contemporary treatment of facial paralysis."

Andrews said yesterday that patients whom he sent for treatment to a clinic in Los Angeles associated with Targan showed improvement after receiving his electrical simulation regimen. "I think it helps," he said.

Some patients treated by Targan also attested to his work on the Web site. "Whether he was licensed or not, it was worth it, and I'm happy with the results," Laura Lee, a Fairfax County resident with Bell's palsy, said yesterday.

But others were less impressed, according to a charging document filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court. The document said one woman's credit card was charged $300 for a missed appointment even though she did not give Targan the credit card number.

An Indiana woman who received a diagnosis of Bell's palsy a little more than a year ago was treated by Targan in Montgomery over three days in May after learning about him while doing computer research on her illness, police said. "Based on what she read on Targan's web site she believed him to be a doctor," according to the charging document. The woman told police that she saw licenses on Targan's office walls, including one showing that he was a physical therapist.

Under Maryland law, it is illegal for someone to use the title "doctor" in front of one's name with the intent of having people believe that the person is a medical doctor. Targan displayed the abbreviation "Dr." in front of his name on his business card, placard on his office door and on his Web site, according to the charging document.

Montgomery police began investigating Targan last month after being contacted by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which reported that he was operating as a physical therapist without a license.

Targan was arrested Tuesday in his office at 19550 Club House Rd. At the police station, Targan told police "that he did not have a license to do his work because he did not need a license," according to the charging document.

Targan was charged last year with second-degree assault and fourth-degree sexual offense stemming from an allegation of improperly touching a patient, but the charges were dropped in October. "They didn't have any case," Helfand said.

Lee, the Fairfax resident, said she paid for her treatments herself, as did other patients. She was found to have pregnancy-induced Bell's palsy in February 2003, which was blamed for paralysis in the right side of her face. Her eye would not close, forcing her to wear an eye patch; she drooled; and food fell from her mouth, she said. Lee said she was so devastated that she would not pose for photographs with her baby girl.

Lee said that she soon saw "remarkable improvement" after Targan started an electric treatment program. It was Targan, she said, who restored hope to her life.