Five defendants charged in the Florida nurse licensing scheme have pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy. They each face up to 20 years in federal prison, authorities said.
The five are among “dozens” charged in the scheme in which aspiring RNs, LPNs, and vocational nurses skipped the required coursework and clinicals but received fraudulent diplomas and transcripts through the Palm Beach School of Nursing. Individuals paid the school $15,000 for the documents, said a press release sued Monday by the US Attorney’s office for the Southern District of Florida.
A number of senior living and care providers were among the “unwitting” healthcare businesses that hired more than 7,600 nurses with fraudulent credentials in the $144 million scheme that involved three now-closed nursing schools in South Florida, McKnight’s reported when the story first broke in January.
Krystal Lopez was the school’s finance director, and she admitted to processing the fake documents and profiting from the scam, according to the US Attorney’s Office. It added that Damian Lopez, also of Palm Beach County, FL; Francois Legagneur of Nassau County, NY; Reynoso Seide of Union County, NJ; and Yelva Saint Preux of Suffolk County, NY, will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal in federal district court in Fort Lauderdale on July 27.
In March, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News reported that many individuals sat for the licensing exam in New York state where people can retake the test multiple times. The head of the New York Health Care Association said that just two nursing facilities had been contacted by law enforcement, but it did not appear that any staff licenses were fraudulent.
Additional reporting from the Associated Press found that “some” of the 903 licensed nurses in New York who graduated from schools under investigation did have the required documentation and clinical hours but had to surrender their licenses until they proved legitimacy through a qualified nursing program.
The federal investigation was called “Operation Nightingale” and charges were levied against 25 nursing school recruiters, owners, and managers.
The US Attorney’s press release noted that the investigation involved the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Miami division; the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General; US Homeland Security Investigations, Miami Field Office; US Department of Veterans Affairs-Office of Inspector General; US Postal Inspection Service, Miami; and Florida Attorney General-Florida Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, Mid-Atlantic Field Office.
