A 46-year-old medical-equipment sales representative from Jupiter is facing felony charges after investigators say he posed as a vendor to slip into restricted surgical areas at two Palm Beach County hospitals and walk out with high-end surgical cameras worth tens of thousands of dollars. Justin Philip Sulish is accused of stealing more than $34,000 in Karl Storz 4K surgical cameras from West Boca Medical Center alone, part of a broader reported loss across two hospitals that sheriff’s records put at more than $183,000.
According to WPEC, the alleged thefts at West Boca Medical Center occurred in March and May. On March 19, Sulish allegedly stole a surgical camera valued at about $20,366.50, then returned on May 8 and is accused of taking another Karl Storz camera and its container worth roughly $13,997.25. In the first case, he was charged with burglary of an occupied structure while unarmed, grand theft of emergency medical equipment, dealing in stolen property, and scheme to defraud involving between $20,000 and $50,000, since those charges carry the weight of second-degree felonies.
Investigators say surveillance video allegedly documented Sulish’s movements inside the hospital, and two hospital employees identified him in photo lineups. In the May incident, he allegedly entered wearing blue scrubs and a bright pink surgical hair net, placed the camera inside his blue bin, and removed a hospital chrome container holding the device. Surveillance footage allegedly showed him pushing a dolly carrying a large blue bin and smaller gray container into a restricted processing area, using the setup to conceal the chrome camera container from a hospital cart.
A Second Hospital, a Similar Playbook
Sulish was arrested in May in Palm Beach Gardens after a separate investigation tied him to thefts at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center. There, he allegedly entered through the main lobby and later accessed restricted surgical-equipment areas while wearing dark-blue Holy Cross scrubs, a mask, and hair covering, per the same account. He is accused of stealing a Universal NavLock surgical instrument tray worth about $14,878.50, while two other similar NavLock trays also went missing from the hospital — bringing the combined value of the three missing trays to about $44,635.50…