Plastic surgeon found dead in home with the girlfriend he had been convicted of kidnapping and tying up with clinical tape
- Joseph Berg, 47, and Lucy Schwartz, 49, found dead in Salt Lake City home just before midday on Monday
- Man was sentenced in April to 6 months jail for kidnapping Schwartz and 'dragging her down hall via her hair'
- Police say no indicators of trauma on our bodies however are treating deaths as suspicious
- Berg was once being sued in June for working on a patient with a 'pickle fork'
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Suspicious: Police are treating the deaths of Lucy Schwartz, pictured, and Joseph Berg as suspicious
A plastic surgeon and the girlfriend he used to be convicted of kidnapping and tying up with medical tape remaining 12 months have been found dead, in a suspected homicide suicide.
A circle of relatives member came upon the our bodies of Joseph Berg, 47, and Lucy Schwartz, 49, just ahead of noon on Monday in the guy's Salt Lake City home after he failed to respond to his telephone, consistent with Utah County Deputy Attorney Craig Johnson.
Police said there have been no indicators of trauma on the couple's our bodies however are treating the deaths as suspicious.
'It’s still so early on in the investigation, we can’t even say what the reason of loss of life is,' Orem police Sgt. Craig Martinez informed the Salt Lake City Tribune.
He added that this would possibly not be known until autopsy and toxicology stories are launched.
Detectives cordoned off the quiet cul-de-sac the place the couple were dwelling and forensics have been transferring in and out of the assets on Monday night time, looking for evidence.
In April, the 47-year-old had been ordered to spend six months in prison for assaulting Schwartz, his longtime girlfriend.
Berg was arrested in November following a 911 call the place dispatchers heard a lady in the background crying and pleading for lend a hand. Police came upon Berg at the home with a lady certain in clinical tape.
The woman used to be tied to a wardrobe, had a rag stuffed in her mouth and the man had dragged her down the corridor by her hair.
Martinez advised the Herald Extra that Berg were given out of prison on August 23. He used to be in the back of bars for just less than four months however was launched early on good behaviour.
In November of 2011, Dr. Joseph Berg was once arrested for tying his girlfriend Lucelia Schwartz to a wardrobe with medical tape
Dead: Lucy Schwartz, pictured, was found dead alongside Berg at the surgeon's Salt Lake City home this afternoon
Kidnapped: Schwartz, pictured right here with an unknown kid, used to be kidnapped by way of Berg ultimate yr however the couple remained together
Police believe the deaths occurred sometime between Sunday night time and past due Monday morning as the couple had been out to dinner with family members over the weekend.
'It's a tragedy no longer best that he is dead but that any individual is dead with him,' Johnson told newshounds the day prior to this. 'Obviously, one thing went horribly fallacious.'
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ShareAccording to the Herald Extra, a realtor mentioned the space the place the two were found not belongs to Berg.
Jeane Tanner with Summit Realty stated the home at 479 E. 1450 North used to be sold on July 12.
Martinez stated a family member of Berg’s used to be renting the property and that he had no longer broken into the home.
In addition to prison time, Berg was once sentenced to three years of probation, anger control and substance abuse treatment.
At his sentencing previous this 12 months, Berg’s attorney admitted his consumer used to be addicted to ache killers.
Schwartz defended her boyfriend in courtroom.
'I do know in my middle he can be again and regain the luck he had prior to the addiction took grasp,' she mentioned at the hearing.
Orem home: The couple have been found dead at Berg's north Orem home, pictured, by way of a circle of relatives member
Tied up: Schwartz, pictured, defended her boyfriend at his April sentencing
Berg was stripped of his doctor, surgeon and his managed substance prescribing licenses ultimate November, after an emergency listening to.
In the suspension order, the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing mentioned Berg’s staff had quit en masse because he was appearing peculiarly.
The staff reported the guy had been falling asleep status up, swallowing handfuls of pills and purchasing medication no longer used in his follow, in line with the newspaper.
The Utah plastic surgeon's troubles had endured since his sentencing in April.
In June, a former patient filed a lawsuit in opposition to him claiming that he attempted to perform on her the usage of a 'pickle fork' after her anesthetic wore off.
Grieving: An acquaintance of the events involved, right, reacts to the information outside the home where the couple have been found dead
Jennifer Swalberg scheduled an abdominoplasty and liposuction process with the sanatorium that Berg ran in Orem in May 2011.
The lawsuit states that Swalberg's work used to be not skilled and all over one follow-up appointment he administered steroids and a local anesthetic, left the room for an hour and then returned where he 'repeatedly stabbed (Swalberg's) insides with a 'pickle fork'.
The horrific recount of the patient's talk over with to Berg is part of the lawsuit filed in court docket, which alleges he committed health care malpractice, battery, lack of knowledgeable consent and negligence.
According to Springer, the scientific ordeal started when Swalberg visited Dr. Berg for plastic surgery after reducing weight.
During the first process, Dr. Berg removed 8.8 litres of fat, which the courtroom paperwork describe as a 'great amount that significantly higher the risk of post-operative complications equivalent to tissue necrosis and fluid accumulation.'
Dean Zabriskie, (left), appears with his client, Joseph Berg at the 4th District Court, in Provo, Utah
Instead of making an easy restoration, Swalberg alleges that she was informed to wear compression garments, however was once no longer informed 'regarding post-op drainage' stated the Herald Extra.
Dr. Berg is said to have performed surgical procedure on Jennifer Swalberg the use of a pickle fork
Filed in June, the lawsuit claimed that Swalberg returned to Dr. Berg with pustulent wounds, 'draining blood and purulent fluid.'
Attending to Swalberg's complaint, Dr. Berg is accused of shoving gauze into her post-surgery wounds with his palms and failing to take and file right kind notes.
Paying Dr. Berg's Cosmetic Plastic Surgery Institute and Day Spa two extra visits in June where she gained equivalent treatment, Swalberg alleges that in August, she had been waiting for Swalberg for three hours when she heard a loud crash in the hallway.
'Jennifer opened the door to see what had happened,' the documents state, 'and he or she noticed Dr. Berg splayed out throughout the floor, his eyes open and glazed.'
It was once all through another August discuss with that Dr. Berg is claimed to have used a non-surgical tool to accomplish surgical procedure on Swalberg.
Administering steroids and native anesthetic to the wounds which had no longer healed after 3 months, Dr.Berg is meant to have left Swalberg along for an hour.
When he returned he minimize open the Utah lady's scarring, even though the anesthetic had worn off.
Taking to the open flesh with a 'pickle fork', Dr. Berg instructed Swalberg that the repeated stabbing would loosen the scar tissue, the lawsuit states.
'It was once excruciatingly painful, and (Swalberg) started bleeding profusely...Dr. Berg prompt (Swalberg) to hold a paper wrapper in opposition to the website online to keep an eye on the bleeding.'
Dr. Berg bows his head at the 4th District Court, in Provo, Utah
These new wounds refused to heal and was odorous and stuffed with blood and pus alleges Swalberg through her legal professional Springer.
Phoning Dr.Berg for another appointment, his staff refused to time table one and then ultimately stopped answering the telephone states Swalberg.
'The scarring is permanent each on the inside and outside,' stated Springer. 'We just don't need this to happen to any individual else. We wish to send a message that that is improper.'
With no earlier prison history, prosecutors pressed for the maximum lenient sentence for Dr. Berg after he tied his girlfriend to a cloth cabinet at his home and phoned 911 in distress.
Dr. Berg's girlfriend Lucelia Schwartz speaks at the sentencing for her boyfriend in April
After he was once arrested via police for the November 2011 assault, investigators discovered that he used to be abusing pharmaceuticals and his medical license was revoked.
An emergency order from the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing in December of 2011 heard that Berg had 29 prescriptions for himself, one for a managed substance, and 21 for his live-in girlfriend, the order stated.
Of the ones, 20 have been for a controlled substance. Drugs illegally in his possession integrated hydrocodone, oxycodone and fentanyl patches.
Defending his movements to the pass judgement on during his April sentencing he said that he suffered from A.D.D and depression and would now be scuffling with prescription tablet dependancy for the leisure of his existence.
The lawsuit from Swalberg seeks particular, common and punitive damages and will be asking for no less than $300,000.
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