A local physician has been detained on allegations that he allowed an unlicensed student to examine patients and issue prescriptions under his name while he was out of the country for months at a time.

In a detention petition, prosecutors from the Illinois Attorney General’s Office said Dr. Mohammad Khamis, 56, “perpetuated two different schemes over the past couple of years,” showing “an absolute reckless disregard for the health and safety for the patients who sought his medical care.”

According to a detention petition, Khamis “orchestrated the fraudulent office scheme” by staffing his River Forest medical office with a student from his “sham medical school in Bosnia” while he was overseas for extended periods.

Patients who visited his practice were examined by the unlicensed student “while he was halfway across the world,” prosecutors said. The student “was not licensed in any country and wasn’t even a graduate of his sham school,” according to the filing.

Prosecutors also accused Khamis of personally billing for more than $100,000 in fraudulent office visits and engaging in “illegal prescription practices.”

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation suspended his medical license on October 31, saying Khamis “allowed an unlicensed individual to use his pre-signed prescriptions to prescribe controlled substances to patients while [he] was out of the country as well as allow [an] unlicensed individual to examine patients while [he] was out of the country.”

Judge Mary Marubio ordered Khamis detained as a flight risk. In her order, she noted that Khamis, a dual citizen, had been in Syria since July and had transferred “substantial assets to multiple foreign countries.” After learning of the investigation, Khamis allegedly destroyed evidence and moved funds overseas, the judge said.

Khamis, who lists a home address in River Forest, faces felony theft and vendor fraud charges.

Original reporting you’ll see nowhere else, paid for by our readers. Click here to support our work.