4 Long Islanders Charged In Florida Nursing School Credentials Scheme: Feds

MIAMI, FL — Four Long Islanders were among two dozen people indicted in connection with their parts in a wire fraud scheme providing fake licensing and employment for nursing students, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in the Southern District of Florida.

The overall scheme involved the distribution of over 7,600 fraudulent nursing diplomas by three now-defunct South Florida-based nursing schools, including Siena College in Broward County, Palm Beach School of Nursing in Palm Beach, and Sacred Heart International Institute in Broward County.

The defendants took part in a scheme to sell fraudulent nursing degree diplomas and transcripts from accredited Florida-based nursing schools to people seeking licenses and jobs as registered nurses, as well as licensed practical and vocational nurses, federal prosecutors said.

The fraudulent diplomas and transcripts qualified the aspiring nurses to sit for the national nursing board exam, and after they passed it, achieve licenses and jobs in different states as RNs and LPN/VNs, according to prosecutors.

Charged with conspiring to commit and committing wire fraud are Nassau County residents Francois Legagneur and Evangeline Naissant, as well as Yelva Saint Preux and Rhomy Louis of Suffolk County.

The names of their communities and their legal representatives were not immediately available.

Each faces up to 20 years in prison based on the charges.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe described the crimes as not only "a public safety concern," but said that it "also tarnishes the reputation of nurses who actually complete the demanding clinical and course work required to obtain their professional licenses and employment."

“A fraud scheme like this erodes public trust in our health care system,” he added.

Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Chad Yarbrough of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Miami said, “Health care fraud is nothing new to South Florida, as many scammers see this as a way to earn easy, though illegal, money."

“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," he said. "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.”

Special Agent-in-Charge Omar Pérez Aybar from the Department of Health and Human Services of the Office of the Inspector General, said, "The alleged selling and purchasing of nursing diplomas and transcripts "to willing, but unqualified individuals is a crime that potentially endangers the health and safety of patients and insults the honorable profession of nursing."

The department is continuing "to aggressively investigate bad actors who so brazenly disregard the well-being of others in order to enrich themselves fraudulently,” he added.

The Palm Beach School of Nursing’s objective was to prepare students to meet Florida’s licensing and nursing board requirements and then become eligible to take the national licensing exam to work as registered nurses, prosecutors said.

The indictment accuses Legageneur, Saint Preaux, and Naissant, among others, who live in Florida and New Jersey, of soliciting and recruiting people who sought nursing credentials to gain employment as an RN or LPN/VN.

It is alleged that the recruiter defendants then arranged with the school's owner and employees "to create and distribute false and fraudulent diplomas and transcripts representing that the aspiring RN and LPN/VN candidates had attended" the school and finished necessary courses and clinicals for RN or LPN/VN diplomas, though they never did, according to prosecutors.

Louis was one of about five people who solicited and recruited others who sought nursing credentials to gain employment as an LPN/VN through Sacred Heart International Institute, prosecutors said.

It's alleged that in a similar scheme, the recruiters made the arrangements for the diplomas with the school's owner only, prosecutors said.

In both cases, it's alleged that the nursing candidates used the fake diplomas and transcripts they purchased to achieve LPN/VN licenses in various states and nursing jobs "with unwitting health care providers throughout the country," prosecutors said.