A Florida woman was arrested after allegedly impersonating nurse and treating thousands of patients with another nurse license, authorities said.
Autumn Bardisa, 29, of Palm Coast, faced seven practice positions as a health professional and seven charges of fraudulent use of personal identification information, said the Office of the Sheriff of Flagler County on Wednesday.
The Sheriff’s office said after Bardisa worked at the Adventhealth Palm Coast Parkway hospital for almost two years, a colleague discovered that she had no license to work as a nurse after she received a promotion earlier this year.
In his time in the hospital, Bardisa “participated in medical services” for 4,486 patients from June 2024 to this January despite “never having a valid nursing license,” said the Sheriff’s office.
Bardisa was hired by Adventhealth on July 3, 2023, as an advanced technology, working under the direct supervision of a registered nurse.
When he requested, he allegedly stated that she was a registered nurse of the “first education”, which meant that he had approved the schooling required to become a registered nurse, but had not yet approved the national exam for his license.
During the hiring process, Bardisa told the hospital that he had approved the exam and provided a license number that coincided with his first name, autumn, but with a different surname, said the Sheriff’s office.
Bardisa supposedly tried to explain the discrepancy claiming that he had married recently and had a new last name. The hospital asked her to provide her marriage license as proof, but she never did, the Sheriff’s office said.
The name and license number that it provided, however, belonged to another nurse, also with the first autumn name, who Adventhealth used in a different hospital, said the Sheriff’s office.
Bardisa then went on to work at the hospital without scrutiny. In January, they offered him a promotion.
The promotion “caused interest” among his colleagues, said the Sheriff’s office. A co -worker verified the status of his license at that time and discovered that “he had a certified nursing assistant license, which the employee informed the administrators,” said the Sheriff’s office.
Adventhealth then opened an investigation into the claim and discovered that Bardisa never provided his marriage license to confirm his identity, said Sheriff’s office.
Bardisa was fired on January 22 “after he could not confirm his identity,” Sheriff’s office said. Adventhealth then contacted the Flagler County Sheriff’s office to conduct criminal investigation.
The investigation took seven months, together with the Department of Health of Florida and the Department of Health and Human Services of the United States, and included interviews with the nurse whose identity bardisa allegedly stole.
The two had attended the same university, but the fall whose identity was stolen said they did not know each other personally, said the Sheriff’s office. That fall said that Adventhealth told him about the alleged fraud in January.
An arrest warrant for Bardisa was issued on August 5 and was arrested at home. The video images of her arrest showed the officers who faced her while she was in her car, with former blue, Sheriff’s office said.
Sheriff Rick Staly described the arrest “one of the most disturbing cases of medical fraud that we have investigated.”
“This woman potentially put thousands of lives at risk by pretending to be someone who was not and violating the confidence of patients, their families, the Adventhealth and a complete medical community,” Staly continued.
The affidavit in the case said that Adventhealth “could not immediately identify that the fall had never uploaded the marriage license” and “supervision of discrepancies” in the information of Bardisa employees.
Adventhealth said he does not comment on pending legal matters or personnel issues.
Bardisa remained in custody from Thursday morning, where she was arrested with a bail of $ 70.00. It was not clear immediately if he had retained a lawyer, and his reading of charges was scheduled for September 2.
