Once, a Palm Beach cancer doctor. Now, a fugitive accused of skipping out on diner checks

David J. Neal
·4 min read
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Dr. Anthony Addesa, a South Florida radiation oncologist, didn’t show up to try to hold on to his state medical license, which the Board of Medicine revoked on Oct. 24.

Then again, the Jupiter doctor hasn’t shown up for much involving the medical or legal system in over a year. That’s why Addesa, a 59-year-old divorced father of one, is a fugitive in two states.

Addesa is on probation after domestic violence and witness tampering convictions cost him his license, but his probation officer doesn’t know where he is. So Addesa is listed among the Florida Department of Corrections’ Absconder/Fugitives.

Palm Beach County Circuit Court doesn’t know where he is. That court is handling a different criminal matter involving Addesa and, allegedly, $16,000 of bounced rent checks. That court issued a bench warrant on Feb. 23, 2022.

The Second Division District Court of Providence County in Rhode Island doesn’t know where he is. Addesa had been released after his September 2022 arrest on three counts of obtaining food or accommodations with intent to defraud (dining and dashing without paying his check, as WJAR-Channel 10 reported). The court issued a bench warrant on Oct. 7, 2022, after Addesa didn’t show up for his arraignment.

In the arrest report from the check-bouncing case, Addesa is listed as standing six-foot-one and weighing 175 pounds, and with brown eyes and brown hair.

If you know anything about where Addesa is or has been, you can email the Absconder Unit or call 850-717-3444, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Eastern time. You can also call your local law enforcement agency.

Anthony Addesa’s photo from his Florida Department of Corrections entry as an “Absconder/Fugitive.”
Anthony Addesa’s photo from his Florida Department of Corrections entry as an “Absconder/Fugitive.”

The doctor and domestic violence

Before his American Board of Radiology certification lapsed in 2020, Anthony Emilio Addesa was a board certified radiation oncologist. His Florida and California license profiles say he got his medical degree at Hahnemann University (the New York license profile claims Drexel University) in 1990. He followed that, his Florida online license profile says, with an internship in internal medicine at the University of Miami, a residency in radiology at UM and a fellowship at Harvard Medical School in radiology.

Addesa’s California license expired in 2019. His New York license says “registered through Aug. 31, 2025.” Before revocation, his Florida license had been delinquent since Jan. 31, 2022, just before Addesa went on the lam.

Addesa had no discipline issues with the state Board of Medicine or Florida Department of Health until Feb. 11, 2020. The administrative complaint filed by the department says Addesa “became angry and used physical force with his wife in front of their infant child.”

Addesa’s wife filed for divorce two days after the battery. He pleaded guilty on Sept. 28, 2021, to misdemeanor domestic violence battery and witness tampering, a third-degree felony. He was given a three-year probation.

By that time, Addesa had other legal problems. These had to do with his girlfriend and his living space.

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Living rent free?

An arrest report says the owners of a townhouse in Jupiter Harbour, 1000 Federal Hwy. North in Jupiter, talked to city police on March 24, 2021, about their tenant, Anthony Addesa. Or, rather, their tenant who they said hadn’t paid any rent on the $5,000 per month townhouse he’d rented for the 2021 calendar year. Court records show they’d already started the eviction process on March 5, 2021.

After giving the owners checks for $5,000, $5,000 and $6,000 on a Bank of America account, Addesa asked for those checks back, they say, and he’d give them checks on a Wells Fargo account. He did so. The owners told police when they deposited the Wells Fargo checks in their SunTrust account, they were declined. SunTrust told them the Wells Fargo account “had been closed for many months.”

Not only had Addesa not paid rent or utilities, they told police, but he was letting his girlfriend live there and she wasn’t on the lease.

Court records say Addesa was evicted in August 2021. He’d be arrested on three counts of obtaining property for a worthless check in October 2021, and was released after posting $1,000 bond. He was present via Zoom at a Dec. 16, 2021 hearing.

Addesa missed a hearing on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 2022. A bench warrant was issued nine days later.