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Impostor Shrink Arrested

January 26, 2010 permalink

Wanna know why those parenting capacity assessments always favor children's aid? Maybe it's because the shrinks conducting them are fakes.

Alleged doctor Gregory Carter provided reports and services for his client, the Children's Aid Society of Durham. His credentials were fake, and he has been arrested.

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office of Gregory Carter office of Gregory Carter
Ron Pietroniro / Metroland
WHITBY -- The office of Gregory Carter is in the Dundas-Centre Medical building at 220 Dundas Street West. Mr. Carter has been charged by the Durham Regional Police. January 26, 2010.

Whitby 'doctor' faked credentials, police allege

January 26, 2010, By Jeff Mitchell

DURHAM -- Police have laid criminal charges against a Whitby man, alleging he committed perjury by presenting false professional credentials while testifying in child custody cases.

Gregory Carter presented himself as a psychologist and dubbed himself a doctor while testifying about the suitability of people to care for children, police and other complainants allege. Mr. Carter, who has a long-standing practice in Whitby and associations with agencies including the Durham Children's Aid Society, was charged Monday with fraud, perjury and obstructing justice.

The development came as a relief to one Clarington man who has complained to both police and Ontario's College of Psychologists. The man lost custody of his granddaughter after a 2006 family court trial in which Mr. Carter testified on behalf of the birth father.

"I'm quite pleased," said Mr. B., whose full name can't be used to protect the child's identity. "He's been doing this for years and no one has stopped him until now."

He suggested court cases Mr. Carter has been involved in ought to be subject to review.

Mr. Carter, 63, did not return messages left Tuesday at his home and at his Whitby office. The allegations against him have not been proven in court.

Mr. Carter is registered with the College of Psychologists as a psychological associate. According to the college's website, he is authorized to work with children and families, but is prohibited from independently diagnosing symptoms or disorders, and is required to perform duties under the supervision of a qualified psychologist.

The website also indicates at least two complaints have been made, alleging Mr. Carter breached the limitations placed on him.

Mr. B. said Mr. Carter presented critical evidence during his family's custody battle in a Durham family court proceeding, including an assertion Mr. B. is "narcissistic" and hostile towards the child's father. In explaining his decision, a judge said Mr. Carter's testimony "tips the balance" in favour of the father, according to a transcript.

Mr. B. feels the case was decided by testimony from a witness who wasn't qualified to offer an opinion. The outcome was devastating to him and his wife, he said.

"A 10-year-old girl has been forced against her wishes to leave the only home she has ever known and we have been left both emotionally and financially ruined in our retirement years," Mr. B. said. He said he and others have contacted a lawyer about launching a civil suit.

In a letter responding to Mr. B's complaint Mr. Carter indicates he completed a Masters Degree in 1978 and pursued further education, including a doctorate obtained from Pacific Western University in 1991. Pacific Western, renamed California Miramar University in 2007, was the subject of controversy in 2004 when American media outlets alleged the school was a "diploma mill" offering expedited credentials for a price.

Mr. Carter operates a practice out of a professional building on Dundas Street West in Whitby. He is past president of the board of Durham Mental Health Services and has been associated with the Durham Children's Aid Society. Among his duties for the CAS was carrying out parenting capacity assessments, said spokeswoman Andrea Maenza.

Such assessments play a role in determining if children remain with their parents or are made wards of the Crown, she said. While performing assessments Mr. Carter had limited access to CAS records, she confirmed.

Mr. Carter's involvement with the CAS was suspended recently and the agency is awaiting the outcome of the college's investigation into complaints against him, Ms. Maenza said.

"We've made no judgment," she said. "We'll let the college takes its course ... and then we'll determine whether or not we'll pursue any other contracts with him."

Rob Adams, executive director of Durham Mental Health Services, said Mr. Carter has served as a volunteer director, assisting with agency governance and strategic direction.

"He had no involvement in the agency's day to day operations or client services and supports," Mr. Adams said.

Mr. Carter is scheduled to appear in court in March. A police investigation continues; call 905-579-1520, extension 2704.

Source: Metroland News

Addendum: The testimony of the phony shrink forced a father to share custody of his children with their mother in a decision made after the father had pointed out Carter's fake credentials to the court. A real shrink says the mother now is a danger to the care of the children. She allegedly restrained the nine-year-old by throwing him to the ground and sitting on him. Children's aid has refused to remove the children from the mother.

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Dad lost his kids due to bogus doctor

By MICHELE MANDEL, QMI Agency

Greg Carter business card
An alleged victim of Greg Carter's - who cannot be identified - holds a business card identifying him as Dr. Carter.
(Ernest Doroszuk/QMI Agency)

WHITBY, Ont. -- A child custody battle is an ugly, twisted jungle at the best of times, but a Whitby father never stood a chance after family court accepted a disparaging assessment done by a man posing as a psychologist.

And ignored the one by the true PhD.

Now the terrified 48-year-old dad must share custody of his two young boys with a woman who the real psychologist has warned is mentally ill and poses a danger to their care.

Greg Carter, 63, has been charged with three counts of fraud, two counts of obstructing justice and two counts of perjury for allegedly impersonating a psychologist.

He is also facing a complaint of professional misconduct by Ontario's College of Psychologists.

"Nobody should go through what I went through," says "Mr. S", the angry father who can't be named because the case involves the Children's Aid. "If he had kept his unqualified opinion to himself, my children would be safe and we wouldn't have lost all our money to lawyers."

The dad had his suspicions after Carter presented an assessment to family court that said the father had a narcissistic personality disorder -- despite never meeting him -- while administering one test on his ex-wife to completely dismiss an exhaustive, 37-page evaluation by a highly respected psychologist who diagnosed her with a borderline personality disorder.

Rattled by his findings, Mr. S. contacted the College of Psychologists of Ontario and discovered that Carter was not a psychologist at all, but a psychological associate whose registration stipulated that he was not allowed to make an independent diagnosis without the supervision of a qualified psychologist.

He had also told the court that he had a PhD from Pacific Western University, the now-defunct school that awarded degrees based on "life experience" and was branded a "diploma mill" in a report by the U.S. Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs.

"I can't believe nobody checked his credentials until I came along," says Mr. S.

What's even more astounding is that Justice Alexander Sosna was then presented with a letter from the College outlining Carter's restrictions -- and the fact that he wasn't a psychologist as advertised -- but still chose to accept the bogus doc's assessment and set aside the damning one by the real psychologist.

The judge, who has a background in criminal, not family law, rejected the dad's bid for sole custody, threw him out of the matrimonial home and ordered him to pay his ex-wife's $13,000 in legal costs within 90 days or he wouldn't be able to see his kids at all.

He had to go to the bank to get a loan because the protracted custody battle had wiped out his $400,000 in savings. But the drain on his finances pales beside his constant fear of what will happen to his sons in their mother's care.

He doesn't understand why a former criminal lawyer is ruling in family court.

"Carter is just one piece of a whole broken puzzle," insists the beleaguered father.

But an integral piece. Mr. S. went on to launch a complaint of professional misconduct against him with the College as did the real psychologist.

"He has been masquerading as a psychologist for some time and had deceived myself and the public about his credentials," the doctor wrote Mr. S. "His conduct is simply unethical."

Carter did not respond to messages left at his home and his Whitby office.

He did offer a tepid mea culpa in a December 2008 letter. "While my concerns are not groundless, I now believe that expressing them in written form based on the information I had was wrong. I owe Mr. S. an apology for that mistake."

But his apology will not give Mr. S. sole custody of his children or undo the harm Carter has allegedly caused in at least two other child custody disputes, including one where his testimony led to a granddaughter being wrenched away from her grandparents after she'd spent most of her 10 years in their care.

"What's an apology if you don't fix the problem you created?" demands the heartbroken father. "He's got to have affected hundreds of people. He's been doing it for 18 years."

And that is why all of his cases need to be reviewed if he is found guilty.

In the meantime, what about all the poor children?

In Mr. S's case, the Children's Aid is now involved after the mom allegedly restrained the 9-year-old by throwing him to the ground and sitting on him. In a list of written expectations on a CAS contract, his ex-wife has been told that her discipline "at no time shall include sitting on either child."

The worried dad has pleaded with them to remove the boys from her care, especially now that Carter's assessment has been discredited, but they refuse.

They say there is nothing they can do but monitor the situation. After all, there's two conflicting psychological reports and the judge accepted the one by Carter.

They don't seem unduly concerned that he's a man now facing charges for fraud.

Source: canoe.com

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