Twenty-five people are accused of operating a multi-million dollar nursing school scheme, including two Burlington County, New Jersey residents.
A massive, coordinated scheme to sell false and fraudulent nursing degree credentials has been brought down by a joint federal law enforcement operation, Justice Department officials said Wednesday.
"This is probably one of the most brazen schemes that I've seen. And it does shock the mind," Omar Perez Aybar, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Office of Inspector General , told ABC News in an exclusive interview. We "expect our health care professionals to be who they claim they are. Specifically when we talk about a nurse's education, and credentials - shortcut is not a word we want to use," said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe. "When we take an injured son or daughter to a hospital emergency room, we don't expect -- really cannot imagine -- that the licensed practical nurse or registered nurse training our child took a shortcut.
The defendants include "owners, operators and employees" of the schools who "prepared and sold fake nursing school diplomas and transcripts to nursing candidates, knowing that the candidates would use those false documents to one, sit for nursing board examinations, secure nursing licenses, and three ultimately obtain nursing jobs in medical facilities -- not only in Florida, but elsewhere across the country," Lapointe said.
In the indictments, federal law enforcement officials alleged that the defendants -- some in leadership roles at nursing schools -- "solicited and recruited individuals who sought nursing credentials to gain employment as Registered Nurses or Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurses ," then arranged with co-conspirators "to create and distribute false and fraudulent diplomas and transcripts" to falsely represent that the aspiring nurses had attended the program and had completed...
Aybar said that is why, from the onset of the investigation, authorities have been working with state licensing boards to share as much information as they could, as fast as they could, so the respective boards "can assess what actions to take to prevent these individuals from rendering care."
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
28 California restaurants make Yelp’s Top 100 Places to Eat include LA, OC and RiversideThe list featured nine Orange County restaurants, six L.A. County restaurants and two Riverside County restaurants.
Read more »
Judge picks Allen County for jury selection in Delphi murders trialGull's order states that jurors will be selected from Allen County. The county seat of Allen County is Fort Wayne.
Read more »
Dale County deputy coroners approved, sworn in to officeOZARK — Three deputies to Dale County Coroner John Cawley were unanimously approved by the Dale County Commission Tuesday and were sworn in to office by Dale County Probate Judge
Read more »
Will the Real GOP Please Stand Up? A National Power Struggle Goes Local.BUTLER, Pa. — Zach Scherer, a 20-year-old car salesman and Republican activist in Pennsylvania’s Butler County, decided to run for a seat on the county commission this year — a move that ordinarily would mean seeking the endorsement of local Republican Party leaders. In Butler County, this raised an unusual question: Which Republican Party? Last spring, the officially recognized Butler County Republican Committee was divided by a right-wing grassroots insurgency, then divided again by a power st
Read more »
Here are Alabama’s 10 highest paid school superintendents: See what your district paysThe average local superintendent salary for fiscal year 2023 is $163,260, up from $152,279 last year, according to recent earnings reports from the Alabama State Department of Education. It’s a jump of 7%, the highest annual increase in more than a decade.
Read more »
Woman shot dead in Jersey City apartmentPolice have put out a be-on-the-lookout alert for a man who they said in radio transmissions may be armed.
Read more »