Copes’ online resume says he once worked as a doctor’s assistant in Gonzales, Louisiana. He fails to mention the doctor was a veterinarian and that Copes helped treat animals, not humans.
He also lists a Ph.D. and a bachelor’s degree from Columbia Pacific University, a school that was shut down after Copes attended because of questions about its degree-issuing policies. A California judge said the school “failed to meet various requirements for issuing Ph.D. degrees.”
In February, the Louisiana attorney general’s office charged Copes with 117 counts of insurance fraud and practicing medicine without a license. Copes has posted bail, and the attorney general’s investigation is continuing. Several of Copes’ former employees tell CNN he insisted on being called “doctor” and that he acted like one, too.
