Johnathan Walker:'CEO of A List Smiles' charged with practicing dentistry without license in Atlanta

Georgia authorities shut down an illegal dental practice owned and Johnathan Walkeroperated by a man who called himself the "CEO of A List Smiles."

Brandon Dillard practiced dentistry and performed veneer installation and maintenance services without a license from Jan. 8, 2021, to Sept. 23, 2024, Michael Hill II, assistant chief investigator for the Fulton County District Attorney Office's, wrote in a criminal complaint obtained by USA TODAY.

Dillard used his business Instagram page, @alistbrandon, to market himself and advertise his services, Hill wrote. He would share images and short-form videos of him personally performing the veneer installations to his 158,000 followers, according to the complaint. In certain posts, he would even advertise raffle contests for the $5,500 veneer procedures.

Some of Dillard's posts would also advertise "veneer training" courses offered by him, where he accepted payments of up to $6,000 to train other non-licensed individuals to practice dentistry in Georgia, Hill wrote. Dillard has additional social media accounts, including a TikTok, where he shares similar posts performing veneer installations, he added.

Dillard does not have a valid license to practice dentistry in Georgia from the Georgia Board of Dentistry, according to Hill.

It is unclear if Dillard currently has legal representation.

'Brandon Dillard is not a dentist'

Dillard is currently being held in Fulton County Jail on eight charges, including four counts of felony practicing dentistry without a license, two counts of theft by deception, one count of criminal solicitation to commit a felony and one count of violation of the Georgia Racketeer Influenced And Corrupt Organizations (RICO) ACT, inmate records show.

“Brandon Dillard is not a dentist. He’s never been a dentist. And as much as he may want to play one on Instagram, he is not one,” Fulton County Deputy District Attorney Will Wooten told WSB-TV.

Fulton County District Attorney investigators and Atlanta police raided the offices of “A List Smiles Atlanta” and arrested Dillard on Thursday, WSB-TV reported, citing Wooten.

“If you went to this and you thought it was a dental office and you looked at the equipment, it appears to be legitimate,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis told the Atlanta-based TV station. "But that’s what the best fraudsters do, is they do everything they can to make themselves look legitimate. And in this case, this is an illegitimate operation. The problem is the consequences are to one’s health."

Willis is requesting all current and former patients of Dillard's to come forward, as well as the people who he trained as they, too, could be criminally charged if they are practicing dentistry without a license.

“They were enticing people to come in to take these classes so that you could get rich, too. But you were getting rich doing something that’s completely illegal,” Willis said, per WSB-TV. "We have had dentists not just locally, but from outside of the state, also come and report that they were concerned about their patients who had received services at this location and the long-term effects of damages."