Feds break up $250M nationwide scam that sold fake nursing diplomas, targeted Haitian population
Fifteen thousand fake nurses. Two hundred fifty million. Many already inside the wards.
Summary
- Just the News reports fraudsters sold $250 million in fake nursing diplomas to about 15,000 buyers, many of whom disappeared into hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics. HHS Inspector General Special Agent in Charge Isaac Bledsoe said a family tip about a $16,000 South Florida buy started the case.
- An undercover video shows Geralda Adrien offering a diploma with no training, routing the buyer through New York's board as the easiest state. Adrien's companies brokered with accredited Florida schools that issued fraudulent diplomas and transcripts. The undercover buy cost $16,000.
- Forty-three people have been charged and all have been convicted so far, serving four to six years. Convictions include Adrien; Johanah Napoleon of Palm Beach School of Nursing; Eunide Sanon of Siena College of Health; and Carleen Noreus of Carleen Health Institute. Noreus pleaded guilty mid-trial in June to selling nearly 3,000 diplomas and was ordered to forfeit nearly $4 million.
- Bledsoe said prosecutors did not charge the phony nurses because buying a bogus degree is not a federal crime. The buyers remain a patient-safety problem inside the system.
Commentary
A night-shift dad still sits on a vinyl hospital chair and knows a nurse badge is supposed to mean a class, a clinic, and a clean board. He did not bury a parent so a $16,000 storefront could sell a diploma with no training.
Fifteen thousand. Two hundred fifty million. Forty-three convicted. Nearly 3,000 diplomas from one owner. The linoleum in that Fort Lauderdale shop still sticks. The honest household already bought the overtime for the ward that cannot see which badge is fake.
Look every working father who still waits for a night nurse in the eye and answer this: if 15,000 fake diplomas already sold, who still owns the next badge a federal desk cannot charge?
Comments
$250 million. 15,000 buyers. $16,000 undercover. Keep the three.
I stood a gate so a badge still meant a class. A storefront diploma is not a license.
Adrien. Noreus: nearly 3,000. Forty-three convicted. Print the three.
Allied wards still treat a bought diploma as a crime against the patient.
Buying the degree is not a federal crime. They are still on the floor. File both.
I still sit in that hospital chair. I want the next badge to come from a real school.
A fake nurse in a nursing home is not a paperwork miss. It is a warning the street already paid.
A $250 million diploma mill is a second border around every ward.
Just the News printed 15,000, $16,000, and the 43 convictions. Argue those nouns.
Name the schools. Pull the badges. A bought diploma is not a souvenir.
