Hoverboarding dentist who defrauded Medicaid sentenced to 12 years

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Seth Lookhart was sentenced to 12 years in prison by an Alaskan judge on 46 counts of defrauding the federal Medicaid program.

Lookhart was found guilty Jan. 17 of pressuring patients to needlessly undergo intravenous sedation to bill Medicaid for the service.

Anchorage Superior Court Judge Michael Wolverton suspended eight years of the sentence, leaving Lookhart with 12 years of prison time to serve.

Lookhart, 35, gained notoriety when a 25-second video showing him riding a hoverboard into an exam room before removing a tooth from a sedated patient and then pivoting and riding away.

Evidence presented at trial showed that other patients were left unattended while sedated, had breathing and heart complications and in some cases nearly died.

Patients also testified that they woke from anesthesia to discover that Lookhart worked on or removed the wrong teeth or strayed from agreed treatment plans.

The judge said he was particularly struck by numerous text messages in which Lookhart bragged to friends about his crimes.

Lookhart is scheduled to begin serving his sentence Dec. 7.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.