Arrest warrant issued for B.C. 'bedroom dentist'

A B.C. Supreme Court justice has issued a warrant for the arrest of a man accused of running an illegal dental clinic in Burnaby, B.C.

The warrant for the arrest of David Wu, also known as Tung Sheng Wu, wasissued Monday morning, after neitherWu nor a lawyer acting on his behalf showed up for a scheduled court appearance.

The justice also granted apermanent injunction against Wu, preventing him from performing dental work again in B.C.

The warrantis valid only inB.C., and authorities say its not clear if Wu is still in the province.

The College of Dental Surgeons of B.C. said it recently learned Wu's possessions had been loaded in a van and are waiting to be shipped overseas via Toronto, said Jerome Marburg, registrar for the college.

"We have information from the transit company," he said. "Right now they're not going anywhere. They have been prevented from being moved."

Aninvestigator with the college has apparently been looking forWusince last Thursday

The college's lawyer, Brent Olthuis, saidWu has shown a flagrant and persistent disregard for authority.

"The College of Dental Surgeons is taking active steps to locate him and make sure the warrant is served on him and Mr. Wu is brought back before the court," he said.

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Wu, who was likely trained as a dentist decades ago in Taiwan, is wanted for contempt of court for violating a 2003 injunction that shut down another unlicensed clinic he operated in Port Moody.

The college said itwants to see him jailed for working without a licence.

Last week, the collegeissued a public warningafter it was revealed Wu, 62, had apparently been operating an illegal clinic out of his Burnaby home. Anyone who has been treated by Wu during the past 20 years is being advised to be tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

CBC Newsobtained video of a College of Dental Surgeons of B.C. raid at the clinic, which revealed dirty and disorganized conditions.

The video shows the living room of the house was set up as a waiting room and the dental practice itself was run out of an apparently filthy bedroom, with a dirty floor and shelves covered with dust and debris.

• Illegal 'bedroom dentist' clinic in B.C. exposed

There was no evidence of any source for sterilized water.

On Monday, Marburg said in a news release that an internal investigation would examine how the college handled Wu's case a decade ago.

"Without all of the information about what happened in 2003, it would be hard to speculate,'' Marburg said in a news release.

"I can only personally speak to how [the college] has handled this matter in 2013. Regardless of what actions the college did or did not take back then, it is unacceptable to the publicand to me as CEO of this organization that we do not have the answers to these questions immediately at our fingertips."

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