Twenty people pled guilty or were convicted for their participation in a scheme that sold fake nursing school degrees from South Florida-based schools, prosecutors said Thursday.
The defendants, comprised of Florida residents and residents of other states, were charged with operating and recruiting for three nursing schools — Sacred Heart Institute in Fort Lauderdale, Sienna College of Health in Lauderhill and Palm Beach School of Nursing in West Palm Beach — in a scam that sold more than 7,600 fraudulent nursing diplomas. All three schools are closed.
"The bogus diplomas and transcripts qualified purchasers to sit for the national nursing board exam and, after passing it, to obtain licenses and jobs in various states as RNs and LPN/VNs," said a Thursday news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District of Florida.
Get South Florida local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC South Florida newsletters.
The defendants were charged with conspiring to and committing wire fraud. Those who were convicted were sentenced to over 21 months in prison. Most of the defendants will face sentencing later this year.
About 7,600 students paid an average of $15,000 for bogus diplomas, according to prosecutors. Around 2,400 of those people then passed a licensing exam to obtain jobs as registered nurses and licensed practical nurses or vocational nurses in multiple states, prosecutors say.
The nurses got jobs across the country, including at a hospital in Georgia, Veterans Affairs medical centers in Maryland and New York, a skilled nursing facility in Ohio, and an assisted living facility in New Jersey, according to court filings.
Local
The FBI and Health and Human Services Inspector General worked jointly on the investigation, dubbed "Operation Nightingale, in honor of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing."
