Crime & Safety

Judge Denies Request to Detain Accused Dentist

Prosecution argues Dr. Hamada Makarita has engaged in witness tampering since his arrest

A judge has denied prosecutors' request to detain and revoke travel privileges for Dr. Hamada Makarita, an Oakton dentist who has been .

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Mazen M. Basrawi argued Makarita engaged in witness tampering before and after a warning from prosecutors that such behavior would result in a motion to revoke bond. 

An FBI complaint filed April 17 accuses Makarita of contacting patients and other potential witnesses — including a confidential informant, who is also a former employee he fired and accused of stealing from him, a charge she denies — to discuss the case. Prosecutors notified Makarita's attorney and warned contact with witnesses would result in a motion to revoke bond.

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The FBI complaint also accuses Makarita of intimidating a current employee for cooperating with the FBI investigation; of speaking with patients about prescriptions he wrote to them, including refills patients did not remember receiving; and of contacting at least one former girlfriend. The complaint also accuses Makarita of threatening to blackmail one former girlfriend, prior to his arrest, with explicit sexual videos taken on his cell phone.

U.S. Magistrate Judge T. Rawles Jones Jr. ruled against detaining Makarita, and clarified all contact with potential witnesses should be done by his lawyer, James Tate.

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The judge also ruled Makarita is not a flight risk, upholding a decision from earlier this month that  to receive a mastership award from the International Congress of Oral Implantologists. He will have his passport from April 26 until April 29 and must return his passport to the probation office April 30. 

On March 15, Makarita was arrested for illegally acquiring narcotic painkillers over a three-year stretch during which he took explicit photos of women to whom he had provided the drugs, according to federal prosecutors.


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