The Conviction of Malachi Love Robinson

His company photo from his medical practice

The story of Malachi Love Robinson is one of chasing a dream. He wanted to be a doctor when he was 17. This led him to purchase a lab coat and stethoscope and go visit the local hospital, St. Mary's Medical Center in Palm Springs Florida. He roamed the halls of the OB GYN wing and nobody seemed to notice, so he kept doing it. He stayed for an entire month, checking on patients and wandering around. He only raised alarm when a patient complained that someone who seemed to young was checking in on her. He was kicked out, and because he was a minor with no other charges, he was given a warning and his name was withheld from the press.

Then in February 2015 he was arrested for practicing medicine without a license after he opened his own medical practice call New Birth, New Life Alternative Medicine. He apparently found a vacancy in a medical complex, placed a down payment, moved in, and was in operation for a number of months. Two weeks after the this arrest, he was arrested again for stealing from a patient he had been treating for stomach pains. After her pain got so bad from his treatment she went to the hospital, he offered to watch her purse while she was gone and wrote $2,800 in fake checks, and used her credit card to take $34,000 more. He was not taken into custody and insisted the entire time he was a doctor.

Then in June 2015 he was hired as a programs director and massage therapist at New Directions Treatment Center in Boynton Florida, despite having not completed any college and having not degrees or qualification. His coworkers were shocked to find out he was not qualified and only 18. He earned a $70,000 salary and while working there, stole another $42,000 more from patients accounts. There was an investigation launched in November 2015, leading to him being charged with practicing medicine without a license and fraud. He went to court in Florida facing 70 years in prison, he was offered a plea deal of 3 years but he still insisted he was a doctor, leading the case to go to trial. He was not placed under arrest during this time. 

In August 2016 he was found attempting to purchase a lexus from a car dealership in Virginia. On the loan papers he stated he was a doctor making $140,000 a year who had his own medical practice. Along with him he had his 73 year old godmother to sign the lease, despite the fact she had no idea what was happening. The dealership called the police and they found he had used his godmother to sign 3 other loans that week, as well as use her credit card to buy 2 Ipads and a new phone. Additionally the address he provided for his medical practice was a Walmart. After this incident he was placed into custody until trial in Virginia.

On May 22, 2017 Malachai Love Robinson was sentenced to ten years in prison, a charged that was immediately reduced to one year. The judge decided to suspend some of his fraud charges, meaning if he commits any more major crimes in the full 10 year sentence, he will be charged with them again. During the trial he still insisted he was a doctor. This trial is only the one from Virginia however, he still is awaiting trial in Florida for 12 felonies.

The story of Malachi Love Robinson is one of persistence, a trait that is becoming more and more uncommon in this day and age. There is an entire episode of Parks and Recreation based around the premise of Ben Wyatt having to deal with many rich interns who were all given jobs without having to do work. The mindset of instant reward is becoming more deep set in our culture as we continue to create ways to make things easier and more convenient so we do not have to try. We can now order food from anywhere and have it delivered through an app. We can get work with the only barrier to entry being a car through uber, removing the application and resume building process. Games are now tailored towards instant gratification through purchases and shortcuts, instead of true progression.

Robinson's unceasing quest towards his goal is a breath of fresh air. Despite his unethical methods, it shows what one can nearly achieve if they just have enough courage to try. Ray Kroc, the co founder of McDonald's, said one of the most well constructed statements on the topic in his tenacity prayer:

"Press on: Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent".

Here is a video of Van Neistat, brother of Casey Neistat reading this quote while 

riding a bike and making some outdated references

If you want to achieve a goal, whether it is to go to find the right way to skin a cat, or making an airplane bathroom out of paper, it is not just going to fall into your lap. You will have to try, fail and continue to try as Robinson is, because failure is what leads you to improvement. His way of going about achieving his dream is unorthodox and illegal, yet he is still trying, and that should be enough to earn at least some respect.