The manhunt continues for the renegade dentist who practiced illegally in Burnaby and throughout the Lower Mainland, as Tung Sheng (David) Wu was finally sentenced on Oct. 15.
Early Tuesday morning, B.C. Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Austin Cullen sentenced Wu to three months jail time for being in contempt of court for his illegal dental practice. Wu has not been present to any court proceeding and is still in hiding.
"He is a person without honour or regard for Canadian civil society," said Jerome Marburg, College of Dental Surgeons of B.C. CEO. "He preyed on the vulnerable and put many people's lives at risk."
Last August, the court found Wu in breach of a 2003 court order prohibiting him from practicing dentistry and issued a warrant for his arrest and filed a permanent injunction.
"I understand upwards of 450 people approached the health authorities," Marburg said about Wu's former clients. "That's not nearly the amount of folks he was preying on."
The investigation and legal proceedings has cost an excess of $140,00 to the college, but that does not include the ongoing costs, according to Marburg.
"We've got to get him first," he said about recovering the cost to the college. "That is the problem ... We've got to find him. We've got to get him and go from there. Yes, it's cost us a lot of money ... (but) we're much more upset people like this exist and prey on the public."
A former patient's complaint about Wu's treatment sparked the initial investigation in late May, and the college hired a private investigator to determine if the unregistered dentist was in fact illegally practicing from his home on Southwood Street in Burnaby.
Wu was illegally practicing on about 1,500 clients who were warned to get tested for Hepatitis B virus, Hepatitis C virus and HIV because his practice did not meet the college's infection prevention and control requirements.
The college has also contacted Canada Revenue Agency, after it found out Wu has been sending a significant amount of money overseas. The agency is also investigating the case to determine Wu's unclaimed income.
The judge gave Wu until Oct. 9 to appear in court and plead his case, but delivered the sentence in his absence on Oct. 15. Marburg says the college is renewing its plea to the public to bring forward any information about Wu's whereabouts.
Anyone with information on Wu is asked to call the college's investigators at 604-209-1708.
"There's no shame in having been a client of Mr. Wu," Marburg said. "And there is no reason to protect him or hide him. ... It's time for him to be found."
