Former Southside pediatric dentist found incompetent to stand trial

A former Jacksonville pediatric dentist has been found incompetent to stand trial.

The ruling came Wednesday in the case against Howard Schneider, who faced several counts of Medicaid fraud.

He was arrested in 2015, the same year he was accused of mistreating his pediatric patients.

Schneider practiced dentistry in Jacksonville for almost 50 years before he gave up his medical license in 2015.

Attorney John M. Phillips, who represents several of Schneider's alleged victims, released the following statement:

"My office represents 131 victims of former dentist Howard S. Schneider. Many of those were victims in the various criminal cases pending in State of Florida v. Howard S. Schneider. While 104 of these children have settled their civil suits, 27 children have not. They have been waiting to take Dr. Schneider's statement and get answers. Today, they were denied that right. All of his victims -over the course of decades of abuse- were denied that right, as he was apparently declared incompetent to stand trial.

"This does not mean he was found not guilty or that the criminal justice system won't be monitoring him, but every victim I have spoken to has been in tears or outrage because they want Dr. Schneider to answer for his abuse, fraud and deceit."