The copies will need to be certified About 7,600 students paid an average of $15,000 for bogus diplomas, according to prosecutors. Nursing School Scam Leads To Indictments For Palm Beach County For more information, visitpalmbeachstate.edu/admissions/credit-by-exam. Have a question about Government Services? The fake diplomas and transcripts qualified those who purchased them to sit for the national nursing board exam. NOTICE: Under Florida law, email addresses are public record. and Pharmacy Technician Certification. Latest posts by Amanda Bucceri Androus, RN, BSN. . The Florida Board of Nursing requires a criminal background check for all applicants seeking licensure. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Main Office: by either the U.S. Consulate or the Ministry of Education in the applicants country. Lock The bleeding here is to stop those schools from being able to put more fraudulent diplomas out in the public sphere.". No students were named in the indictments. From Nov. 2020 to July 2021, Charles Etienne, owner of Sacred Heart International Institute, and two others provided purchasers with 588 fake diplomas and transcripts. The overall scheme involved the distribution of more than 7,600 fake nursing diplomas issued at a cost of about $114 million. Transcripts must be ordered online through services provided by Credentials Solutions We will temporarily accept (due to COVID-19) clear copies of your high school diploma And when I asked for the transcript, they sent us a fake transcript," she said. The charging documents describe Siena College as a Broward County school licensed by the Florida Commission for Independent Education and the Florida Board of Nursing that offers a Practical Nursing Program and an RN to Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program. Not only is this a public safety concern, it also tarnishes the reputation of nurses who actually complete the demanding clinical and course work required to obtain their professional licenses and employment, said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe, who added that a fraud scheme like this erodes public trust in our health care system.. After passing the exam, they became eligible to become licensed in several states, where they eventually found jobs as licensednurses. To be evaluated, all required transcripts need to be submitted from all institutions "Not only is this a public safety concern, it also tarnishes the reputation of nurses who actually complete the demanding clinical and course work required to obtain their professional licenses and employment," said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe. Transcripts should be complete showing all final grades and final graduation date. 22-60111-Cr-Smith and 22-60118-Cr-Smith). President and Employee of Ft. Lauderdale Business Indicted for "What do we learn when somebody gets injured? : 23-60005-Cr-Smith, U.S. v. Sanon, case no. The Palm Beach County school, which operated on 2695 N. Military Trail in West Palm Beach, offered an Associate in Science degree. U.S. v. Witherspoon, et al., case no. These Valuable Pennies Are Worth Thousands. Closed Palm Beach School of Nursing linked to federal arrests in The School of Nursing offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs, features state-of-the-art lab resources and offers students a holistic approach to the nursing profession. Federal Enforcement on Falsifying Thousands of Nursing Credentials * Diplomas are not accepted as proof of high school completion or in place of transcripts. How Do Nurses Protect Themselves from Highly Infectious Patients? Mailing address to submit official sealed transcripts: Palm Beach State College 4200 Congress Avenue, MS#13Lake Worth, FL 33461, Start of Top Menu - Press Esc key to Close. Applicants must meet the following requirements before being accepted: Be at least 18 years old. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. need More than $100 million worth of bogus nursing diplomas and transcripts were sold to 7,600 individuals who paid an average of $15,000 to obtain them. The School District of Palm Beach County Records Management 3300 Forest Hill Blvd., Suite B-201 West Palm Beach, FL 33406-5870 Email: recordsmanagement@palmbeachschools.org Phone: (561) 434-8550 Fax: (561) 434-8660 In 2021, an undercover FBI employee met with Fort Lauderdale businessman Geralda Adrien at her Fort Lauderdale office. The School of Nursing prepares professional, competent nurses who are reflective, inquiring, able to apply nursing theory, processes and technical nursing skills within the context of the Christian worldview, while recognizing the global, pluralistic nature of society. Were it not for the diligence and hard work of the investigators on this case, the extent of this fraud may not have been discovered.". Health care fraud is nothing new to South Florida, as many scammers see this as a way to earn easy, though illegal, money, said acting Special Agent in Charge Chad Yarbrough, FBI Miami. Group ranks health care industry's lowlights in 2022, FDA vaccine panel to consider annual COVID shots, Florida doc sentenced to 20 years in prison, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy, The DOJ is prosecuting participants in the alleged scheme in five separate cases. Around 2,400 of those people then passed a licensing exam to obtain jobs as registered nurses and . High School Graduate GED Student Home Education Graduate Out of Country Credentials College/University Transfer Student Crimes such as these unfortunately continue to spring up, especially in this area. U.S. v. Witherspoon, et al., case no. Wire fraud is charged when a defendant uses interstate electronic communications to commit a fraud and "to further the scheme," according, Recruiters helped aspiring nurses obtain the fake degrees and transcripts. Official websites use .gov It is alleged that these defendants solicited and recruited individuals who sought nursing credentials to gain employment as an LPN/VN. Closed Palm Beach School of Nursing linked to federal arrests in Santaluces Community High / Homepage - School District of Palm Beach County all right, chris, thank you. Diplomas are not accepted as proof of high school completion or in place of transcripts. What is disturbing about this investigation is that there are over 7,600 people around the country with fraudulent nursing credentials who are potentially in critical health care roles treating patients. Each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison. One nurse worked at a Veterans Affairs-run home. More than 7,600 fake nursing diplomas were issued by the three nursing schools since 2016 at $15,000 each, netting them more than $114 million. A copy of your driver license, state ID, or other form of photo identification showing your name, date of birth and signature is required. AICE, AP, IB, or CLEP Please submit these transcripts electronically to, Institutional Research & Effectiveness (IRE), online request for Florida GED Transcript, palmbeachstate.edu/admissions/credit-by-exam, Please request that transcripts be submitted electronically via, Transcripts can be sent via Secure PDF directly from the issuing institution school directly). According to the court documents, the nursing applicants used the fake diplomas and transcripts they purchased from the owner and employees of Palm Beach School of Nursing to obtain RN. Some of those who purchased degrees were from South Florida's Haitian-American community, including some with legitimate LPN licenses who wanted to become registered nurses, the Miami Herald reported. What If My Nursing School Isnt Accredited? *Diplomas are not accepted as proof of high school completion or in place of transcripts. 4th Street Brown, along with several students, left the program when they realized it was a scam. Fax Line: (305) 530-7679. The other schools named are the Sacred Heart Institute in Fort Lauderdale in Sienna College of Health in Lauderhill in the investigation dubbed "Operation Nightingale" after legendary nurse Florence Nightingale. The indictment charges defendants Stanton Witherspoon of Burlington County N.J.; Alfred Sellu of Burlington County N.J.; and Rene Bernadel of Westchester County, N.Y. with conspiring to commit and committing wire fraud. Transcript Request - Florida Department of Education Some schools will accept notarized copies of your own documents along with "proof" of the school's destruction. All schools are now defunct. Napoleon was previously charged by information and has pled guilty to conspiring to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, as well as wire fraud (case nos. West Palm Beach School Of Nursing - NursingTalk.net Instead, contact this office by phone or in writing. The U.S. Department of Justice announced . Published on January 27, 2023 12:17 AM. The school was licensed with the Florida Board of. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. She was not named in the indictment. According to the charging documents, Palm Beach School of Nursings objective was to prepare students to meet Floridas licensing and nursing board requirements and become eligible to take the national licensing exam in order to work as registered nurses. Bei der Nutzung unserer Websites und Apps verwenden wir, unsere Websites und Apps fr Sie bereitzustellen, Nutzer zu authentifizieren, Sicherheitsmanahmen anzuwenden und Spam und Missbrauch zu verhindern, und, Ihre Nutzung unserer Websites und Apps zu messen, personalisierte Werbung und Inhalte auf der Grundlage von Interessenprofilen anzuzeigen, die Effektivitt von personalisierten Anzeigen und Inhalten zu messen, sowie, unsere Produkte und Dienstleistungen zu entwickeln und zu verbessern.