ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The state is going after an Albuquerque dentist, claiming he practiced on patients without a license.

“When we have an individual that’s trying to play in the grey, what we tell them is that it needs to be black and white,” says Mark Torres, a Special Agent with the Office of Superintendent of Insurance.

That individual Torres is referring to is Dr. William Gardner. Torres says their office got a tip in 2017 that Gardner was using the same x-ray on different patients to justify procedures they didn’t need.

Torres said they couldn’t find patients to corroborate the tip, but they did discover last year, Gardner was operating without a license. “Him not being licensed in the state of New Mexico to perform services. Therefore, he cannot provide billing to insurance companies for his services,” says Torres.

Those companies noticed something wasn’t right with Gardner’s claims.”When they were doing their audit, they found out he wasn’t entitled to receive those payments,” says Torres.

Torres says Gardner has had a lot of issues with the state’s Regulations and Licensing Department. As they looked into the allegations, they found a reason to charge him. “We indicted him on nine separate charges of providing a false application or a claim. They total over $50,000,” says Torres.

Gardner refused to do an on-camera interview. In an email, he says the allegations are untrue and claims the New Mexico Dental Board is corrupt but didn’t provide any evidence.

Read Dr. Gardner’s full statement below: