From Chiropractor to Fitness Trainer

A journey full of ups and downs

Hello readers, it’s Mr. Skeptical writing now. When you see the lettering in bold, it means Mr. Skeptical writes, and Hermann can’t read this. I received some very personal information about Hermann over the weekend. A post came out at revealing why he no longer practices chiropractic.

Today, I’m going to force Hermann to reveal his past.

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Subconscious Fat at 30,000 feet

As I sit down to write, Mr. Skeptical is quiet, looking at me like he knows something. As I write the title of the post, he says, “It’s about damn time you tell us this.”

“I had my reasons to wait.”

“I feel tricked like you fooled me, and I’m sure many of our readers will feel the same way.”

“Yes, it’s understanding how some people might see it as somewhat deceptive, but like I said, there were legitimate reasons to wait.”

“Yes, it feels deceptive. You are a federal felon. You spent years in federal prison. I want to hear the whole story.”

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Subconscious Fat at 10,000 feet

After graduating from chiropractic school in the early 90s, I opened a chiropractic clinic in Puerto Rico from 1994 to 1998. I moved back to Miami in 1998 and opened a chiropractic office there too.

However, I started getting offers to work in different clinics—most of these clinics dealt with auto accidents, which is very lucrative in Florida. Florida is a no-fault state, where anyone in a car accident is entitled to $10,000 of health benefits by their state-required auto insurance. The money is paid quickly because if not, clinics can get an attorney and sue. The insurance companies find that it’s often better to simply pay the clinics than to add additional expensive attorney fees.

I’ll admit it was easy money. Sometimes, I even had other chiropractors working for me in different clinics. 

Around 2007, I worked for a couple for a few weeks, where they had about 2-5 car accident patients a week coming in. They later moved their clinic from Miami to West Palm Beach, where they bought another medical doctor’s practice.

However, in the West Palm Beach location, many more auto accident patients were coming in. I was also getting divorced at the time, and I needed to continue to earn money to support the legal fees and typical costs associated with a divorce.

Mr. Skeptical eyes narrow in on me. “You knew the clinic was committing fraud.”

“I didn’t know, no. However, I’ll admit I should’ve known better. I knew something had to be going on because there were too many auto accident patients coming in. I should’ve quit right away, but I didn’t. I decided to work there for six months and then reassess whether to continue.”

“What did you decide after six months?”

“I was scared. But I didn’t find any blatant fraud. Unbeknownst to me, the fake car accident patients were trained as to what to tell me as I performed the examinations. However, I decided to quit because so many patients were coming in, and it took two more months for the couple to find another chiropractor to replace me. I didn’t feel comfortable referring another chiropractor I knew to work in the clinic because I suspected fraud.

“The couple found another chiropractor to work in my place, so I left the clinic after eight months.”

Mr. Skeptical asks, “But you admit you should’ve left the clinic sooner.”

“Yes, like they say, hindsight vision is perfect. I should’ve left much sooner.” 

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Subconscious Fat at Eye-Level

About four years later, the FBI visited me to ask questions about the clinic in West Palm Beach. Not knowing better, I answered their questions. In hindsight, I should’ve said nothing and told them that an attorney would contact them. This was a big mistake on my part, but I felt I didn’t commit fraud, so I had nothing to hide.

I was very wrong.

The FBI viewed what I said as a confession. I got an attorney. My attorney asked me if there was an email or text where the couple divulged that the auto accidents were fake or even insinuated that. There was no such email or text. My attorney then asked if there was ever a conversation where I must’ve known there was fraud or that it was insinuated. Again, no, we have never had such a conversation.

My attorney then said maybe I should fight the case in trial. But he also warned that if I fight it and lose, I’ll get a longer prison sentence.

On the first day of trial, two other chiropractors appeared in court in a similar situation to mine. I didn’t know these chiropractors at all till that day. We all pleaded innocent; no concrete evidence indicated we had committed fraud. The couple who recruited me followed the directions of two other men who had set up two other clinics with the two different chiropractors. It was a big fake auto accident scheme.

Mr. Skepticals eyes widen. “What happened to those two other men who started the whole thing?”

“They escaped to Cuba.

“Us three chiropractors lost the trial, and we were all sent to federal prison. I was the only chiropractor to win one conviction as not guilty, but it was a hallow victory, for it didn’t change anything or my sentencing. We had a few months before turning ourselves into prison. Those were terrible months.

“Did you testify in court?”

“My attorney advised me not to, so I didn’t.”

“The picture of me above was taken a few weeks before I went to prison. It captures the solemn moment well. Life sucks when you know you’re about to be incarcerated.

I’m reunited with my children shortly after getting out of prison. Notice the ankle monitor on my left leg.

Practical Suggestions and Conclusions

Mr. Skeptical asks, “Why did you wait till now to tell me and the readers this?”

“Because after getting out of prison earlier due to good behavior and the COVID pandemic, I was still on probation. I didn’t want to speak publicly about my prison sentence while I was on probation. There could’ve been legal consequences.

“The worst part, of course, was being away from my family, especially my children. However, they visited me often, and I spoke to them on the phone weekly.

While in prison, I got into working out. This helped me a lot psychologically. I lived by the idiom healthy body = healthy mind. In federal prisons, they don’t allow weights. Sometimes, I used bands to work out, and I saw the value of them. I use bands a lot with my clients today.

I’m not much of an extrovert, so I spent little time talking to others while in prison. I spent most of my time reading books, many of which concern health and wellness. I use that information today to help my clients make transformations.

I also wrote a lot, which I still do now.

I’ve also learned to take full responsibility for my past mistakes, good or bad. I don’t blame anyone else but me. Yes, the justice system in the USA is not so great, for we do have more prisoners per population than any other country in the world. Yet, I still take full responsibility for my actions and consequences.

I’ll never again be involved in anything that might be even remotely shady, for I know the high price that can be paid. It’s so not worth it.

All we can do when life gives us lemons is make lemonade. I do feel I’ve turned a bad experience into something good. I do love fitness and helping people get fit. Life goes on.

Do you turn past negative experiences into something positive? We all have made past mistakes (maybe not as dramatic as mine), but we can turn those mistakes into something good. There’s always a silver lining in anything and everything.

Be aware.

One of my biggest fears was that my grandmother would pass away while I was in prison. I was lucky to be out before she passed and to attend her funeral. She was 104 years old. 

PS Links in Facebook and Instagram. Full disclosure: Chat GPT was used to research and enhance this post.