25 charged in scheme to sell fake nursing diplomas
Federal prosecutors have charged 25 people in a scheme to sell fake nursing diplomas to buyers who then used the credentials to obtain nursing licenses and jobs in health care settings across the country.
The scheme involved the sale of more than 7,600 fake diplomas issued by three Florida nursing schools, which have since closed: Siena College and Sacred Heart International Institute, both in Broward County, and Palm Beach School of Nursing in Palm Beach County, prosecutors said.
The 25 people charged last week include administrators of the Florida schools and administrators and affiliates of a series of nursing test prep academies in other states that recruited candidates to buy the fake diplomas, said Omar Pérez Aybar, special agent in charge for the Miami region of the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Many of the people who paid for the fraudulent credentials already had experience working in health care — for example, as certified nursing assistants — and were hoping to qualify as registered nurses or licensed practical nurses without having to complete the required courses and clinical work, Pérez Aybar said in an interview.
Buyers paid between $10,000 and $15,000 to obtain bogus diplomas and transcripts indicating that they had earned legitimate degrees, like the associate degree in nursing, Pérez Aybar said. That degree can take two years to complete.
The diplomas and transcripts then allowed the buyers to qualify for the national nursing board exam, prosecutors said. About 37% of those who bought the fake documents — or about 2,800 people — passed the exam, Pérez Aybar said.
Among that group, a “significant number” then received nursing licenses and secured jobs in hospitals and other health care settings, Pérez Aybar said.
Court documents did not name those institutions but said they included Veterans Affairs hospitals in Maryland and New York, a hospital in Georgia, a skilled nursing facility in Ohio, a rehabilitation center in New York and an assisted-living facility in New Jersey.
Federal officials called the investigation “Operation Nightingale,” after Florence Nightingale, the British nurse regarded as the founder of modern nursing. Each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on charges that include wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
None of the buyers of the fake diplomas were charged in connection with the scheme. Pérez Aybar said authorities had sent the names of the recipients to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing.
The council said in a statement that nursing regulators in the affected states “have been investigating individual cases and are taking appropriate action, in accordance with their state laws and due process, that includes loss of license.”