text: Skip in Skip x Embed x Share A Jacksonville, Florida dentist is being sued by several former patients after claims that he abused and tortured them. VPC 
   
   A lawsuit accuses Dr. Howard Schneider of assault, battery, false imprisonment and intentionally inflicting "severe emotional distress." Florida also is investigating the Jacksonville, Fla., pediatric dentist. (Photo: WTLV-TV/WJXX-TV, Jacksonville, Fla.) 
   
   JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville pediatric dentist under investigation by the state of Florida is now the target of a class-action lawsuit alleging his practice is a front for a "sadistic and systematic scheme of physical and psychological torture and abuse" of "utterly defenseless" children. 
   
   In a lawsuit filed this week in the 4th Judicial Circuit Court in Duval County, Fla., four plaintiffs accuse Dr. Howard Schneider of assault, battery, false imprisonment and intentionally inflicting "severe emotional distress" spanning decades from his office. 
   
   The lawsuit filed Wednesday follows days of protests outside Schneider's office and a wave of complaints from parents alleging he physically abused their children, botched their dental work, and stonewalled parents and investigators when his methods were questioned. 
   
   It also comes just days after the Florida Attorney General's Office confirmed Schneider's practice was under active investigation for alleged Medicaid fraud. 
   
   The plaintiffs are seeking damages exceeding $15,000 and a jury trial, alleging his practice was a "house of horrors," where some parents say their children were at times strapped down and left with visible injuries and marks to their faces and necks, that "has little to do with dentistry, but much to do with the Doctor's deviant sadistic appetites." 
   
   The suit claims that Schneider's practice specifically preyed on low-income, uneducated and non-English speaking clients to "limit the ability of these initially unsuspecting parents and families to protect their children" from his "deviant and violent" methods and threatened them to avoid exposure. 
   
   "Dentist Schneider's deep need to inflict pain, torture, mutilate and humiliate, has driven him to create a specialized dental 'practice', which, by its very design and structure, provided him with a constant supply of especially defenseless, indigent, children to victimize," the complaint said. 
   
   The suit — citing testimony from patients, parents and past employees of Schneider's — also accuses him of being a "pathological sadist" suffering from a "psychosexual disorder" who derives "sexual excitement" from inflicting pain or humiliation on another person, consenting or otherwise. 
   
   (Photo: WTLV-TV/WJXX-TV, Jacksonville, Fla.) 
   
   Schneider, 78, has been practicing in Jacksonville for more than 40 years. He has never been charged with a crime in connection to the jarring allegations, which the suit says include: 
   
   • "Choking children to the point of unconsciousness rather than using appropriate anesthetic prior to doing tooth extractions..." 
   
   • "Performing non-medically necessary dental procedures" without anesthetic and "fraudulently" billing Medicaid for them 
   
   • "Using fear and threats to scare and thereby silence his victims, including threats not limited to saying things like 'Your mom will die' if you tell her what happened..." 
   
   Twice, though, first in 2001 and more recently in 2013, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has been called to his practice to deal with complaints about the dentist using excessive force on young patients. Court records also show that there were two malpractice suits brought against him in 1995 but they were later dismissed. 
   
   This week's lawsuit alleges one mother called the Department of Children and Families after a visit to the dentist's office April 15 when she said he pulled four of her 2-year-old son's baby teeth instead of two. It said he was returned to his mother "crying profusely and covered in blood and bruises" and had been "cut on the bottom front outer gum line from ear to ear." 
   
   "(The Department of Children and Families) documented the scene, and attempted to contact (Schneider), who repeatedly refused to make an appointment to give a statement to DCF," according to the complaint. His wife allegedly told the Department of Children and Families the child had injured himself during the procedure and "this type of thing happens all the time." 
   
   That complaint is one of four accounts detailed vividly in the lawsuit, which says attorneys for the plaintiffs have identified at least 60 victims of Schneider's, some of whom are now adults. The suit suggests there could be as many as 1,000 victims from over the years who have yet to come forward. 
   
   John Harrell, a spokesman for the Department of Children and Families, said it was possible the department received a call about that complaint, but noted that the agency does not have jurisdiction over doctors and dentists. 
   
   "Legally, we don't have the authority to investigate (them)," said Harrell, who encouraged parents to contact law enforcement to investigate claims of abuse involving medical professionals. 
   
   The agency, Harrell said, generally only gets involved when it comes to allegations of abuse or neglect at the hands of parents, caretakers and educators. 
   
   It's not clear whether the Florida Board of Dentistry, which investigates allegations of malpractice and could revoke his license if the claims are founded, has intervened. The board's investigations remain confidential until they're complete. 
   
   An attorney representing Schneider did not return calls for comment about the lawsuit. However, in an earlier interview, Schneider dismissed the allegations. 
   
   "I'm sure in my lifetime I've done something that is off color, but it ain't mistreat kids," he said. 
   
   Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1H5Olay ||||| Dr. Howard Schneider has worked for years as a pediatric dentist, catering to children of low-income parents on Medicaid. 
   
   But Schneider's reputation is now clouded over claims that many of those same kids were harmed in his clinic. More than 100 families have accused the Jacksonville, Florida, dentist of harming their children and making millions of dollars while wrecking their mouths. Parents say Schneider extracted healthy baby teeth from their children. 
   
   In 2014, Brandi Motley brought in her daughter Bri-el, then 6 years old, for an appointment with Schneider. 
   
   Motley said Schneider told her that he needed to extract one of Bri-el's baby teeth. After waiting three hours in the lobby, Motley said a nurse assistant came to get her. 
   
   "She said, 'There's been an accident.' That's when I see the blood,” Motley recalled. “Blood on the floor and everything. She [Bri-el] was hyperventilating…and she was face-first on the floor.” 
   
   Motley said Bri-el had scratches, bruises and a mouthful of bloody gauze, and her daughter told her a different story of what happened in the dentist chair. 
   
   "She says, 'Mommy, they're lying to you ... he was choking me while he was pulling my teeth,'" said Motley. 
   
   And when Bri-el took her gauze out, Motley saw that Schneider had taken out all eight of her front teeth even though Motley said her daughter was scheduled to go in for only one extraction. 
   
   Motley wanted to sue Dr. Schneider -- but the attorney she called, John Phillips, didn’t take the case. “It’s the worse he-said-she-said you'd ever want to be part of," he said. 
   
   So Motley turned her mini-van into a rolling billboard attack on Schneider, and in April of last year, she posted her grievances and photos of Bri-el after the procedure on Facebook. The post was shared over 350,000 times. 
   
   ABC News 
   
   Realizing she was not alone, Motley and several other moms who said their children had similar experiences to Bri-el began protesting with signs outside of Schneider's clinic every day. 
   
   ABC News met with some of Schneider's alleged victims. 
   
   "He [doesn't] care about people. He definitely [doesn't] care about innocent children who can't even defend themselves," Sherraine Christopher told ABC News. 
   
   Christopher said that when Zion, then 3 years old, began screaming during his treatment, she pulled out her cellphone and recorded what was happening. 
   
   Zion was hysterical while Schneider continued grinding down the first of 16 teeth that he would eventually fit with metal crowns. Christopher said she never received an explanation for the 16 caps in Zion's teeth. 
   
   Some dentists, who perform the same procedure as Zion's on other children, argue that it can prevent serious problems, especially among some poorer kids who eat more sugar and brush less. 
   
   Christopher shared the video she recorded of Zion at the clinic -- and it went viral. 
   
   Seeing the video, John Phillips, the attorney who was initially reluctant to take on Motley's case, eventually took on 131 individual cases of families against Schneider. 
   
   After weeks of protests, Schneider closed his clinic and voluntarily surrendered his license to practice dentistry, allowing him to avoid a full dental board investigation. 
   
   In November 2015, the state attorney general arrested Schneider and charged him with 11 counts of Medicaid provider fraud. Schneider pleaded not guilty. In only five years, Schneider had collected nearly $4 million in payments from the government program. 
   
   Schneider still faces a possible criminal trial on the Medicaid fraud charges. He will be back in court in November for a hearing on a defense motion to avoid a trial by having him declared mentally incompetent. 
   
   Meanwhile, he has settled 104 of Phillips’ total 131 lawsuits, including those brought by the families of Zion and Bri-el, without any admission of wrongdoing. 
   
   "I think he's just an old, greedy, selfish man," Motley told ABC News. 
   
   Schneider maintains the allegations against him are false and that giving up his medical practice was in no way an admission of guilt. He insists he used anesthesia and that he was a great dentist, practicing for over 50 years. ||||| JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A judge has appointed a third psychologist to conduct a mental evaluation of an embattled pediatric dentist, who is facing 11 counts of Medicaid fraud. 
   
   The prosecution and defense in the case of Dr. Howard S. Schneider, 78, each hired medical experts to diagnose Schneider, who has pleaded not guilty to those charges and one count of scheme to defraud. 
   
   Schneider's trial was set to begin June 13, but the expert hired by the defense said he's not competent to stand trial, and until that issue is settled, the trial has been postponed. The prosecution's medical expert disagreed with the defense expert's assessment. 
   
   The results of the two evaluations have not been released. 
   
   Both sides have agreed to hire a third medical expert, who will essentially be the deciding factor in whether Schneider will stand trial. 
   
   Thursday, the trial judge appointed the third psychologist to conduct a mental of Schneider. 
   
   The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Nov. 14. No trial date has been set. 
   
   The state claims the pediatric dentist billed Medicaid hundreds of thousands of dollars for procedures he didn’t actually perform. Parents claim that Schneider abused children. 
   
   "You shouldn't be able to use incompetency as a shield now, when you weren't able to use it as a shield when you were treating these children," Schneider said. 
   
   Schneider remains free on $110,000 bond, and is now living in St. Simons Island, Georgia. 
   
   COURT DOCUMENTS: 
   
   Motion to dismiss | Motion for protective order | Motion to declare defendant incompetent 
   
   Parents report abuse by dentist 
   
   Included in the state's evidence gathered for the fraud case are nearly a dozen similar accounts from parents telling investigators what they and their kids experienced in Schneider’s office: 
   
   "That man doctor threw me." 
   
   "He choked me and pulled my teeth." 
   
   "They’re lying to you." 
   
   The Office of the Attorney General Medicaid Fraud Control Unit interviewed them as a part of its investigation of the dentist. Parents of Schneider's patients recounted hearing screams, children injured during procedures, and children getting procedures the parents didn't even know about. 
   
   Parents reported that their children's lips were bruised, their kids were very scared, and one patient was found face down on the floor. 
   
   One parent told investigators they took their child to Schneider's office for a procedure they were told would only take 30 minutes. After three hours, the parent went to the window three times, and an assistant finally said there was an incident. 
   
   When the parent was finally able to see the child, the child was hyperventilating and had marks, scratches and blood all over. 
   
   According to one document, Schneider’s assistant told the person the child was on a papoose board and, “We stepped out, came back and (he/she) was face first on the floor.” 
   
   But the child had a different story, telling investigators: “They’re lying to you. That man doctor threw me, and that lady picked me up when I was on the board, and she was laughing at me and sat on me and choked me.” 
   
   The parent told investigators, “I saw that my baby was missing all (his/her) teeth.” 
   
   The documents also include what experts told investigators about Schneider, including: 
   
   His consent form is too general, and he should get consent from parents before performing additional procedures. 
   
   His charts had poor progress notes. 
   
   The quality of work performed on the patients was low and below standards of care. 
   
   The type and amount of sedation that Schneider was using on the children was very mild and would not be strong enough for a child 3 years or older. 
   
   One dentist who treated patients after they had seen Schneider told investigators, "It was like if Dr. Schneider had done crowns, the crown was gone. If Schneider had done a filling, the filling was gone." 
   
   DOCUMENTS IN EVIDENCE IN SCHNEIDER CASE: 
   
   Patient depositions: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Doctor depositions 1 | 2 
   
   Schneider is also facing civil lawsuits from former patients. 
   
   Copyright 2016 by WJXT News4Jax - All rights reserved.
target: – A Florida mother says she brought her then-6-year-old daughter in for a dental appointment to get a tooth extracted with Dr. Howard Schneider in 2014—but, instead, she came in to the procedure room to find her daughter "face-first" on the bloody floor with scratches, bruises, and all eight of her front teeth extracted. When Brandi Motley couldn't get an attorney to take her case, she "turned her minivan into a rolling billboard attack on Schneider," ABC News reports. Then, in April 2015, she posted about her experience on Facebook, and the post went viral. She found other parents who said they'd had similar experiences—they allege Schneider, who catered to children in low-income families, performed unnecessary procedures, harming their kids in the process, in order to collect millions in Medicaid funds—and they started protesting outside Schneider's clinic. Ultimately, the attorney who'd at first refused the case took on 131 individual lawsuits against Schneider, settling 104 of them thus far, but Schneider continues to insist he's done nothing wrong. After the protests had been going on for weeks, Schneider shut down his clinic after more than 50 years of practicing dentistry, and voluntarily gave up his dental license—which meant he avoided a full investigation by the dental board. In November 2015, he was arrested and charged with 11 counts of Medicaid provider fraud; he pleaded not guilty and may go to trial, although his defense team is seeking to have the 78-year-old declared mentally incompetent in order to avoid a trial, News 4 Jax reports. In May, USA Today reported that some parents accuse Schneider of going so far as to choke his patients into unconsciousness rather than using anesthetic.