Nurses who obtained their degrees and transcripts illegally are reportedly under serious Investigations in the United States of America.
According to reports reaching Bluebloodz.com about 150 nurses in Washington state and “about a dozen” nurses in neighboring Oregon are already undergoing investigation after being identified by the Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission to have graduated from 3 now-shuttered federally accredited nursing schools in Florida.
Thus far , from the 150 Washington nurses linked to the Florida schools, seven [7] have surrendered their nursing licenses,Thirty-two [32] are awaiting a decision on their fates, four new applicants for licensure were denied and 30 applicants are also awaiting a final decision, with a separate batch of 77 nurses left to be investigated
The nurses were identified after the state nursing board pored over hundreds of RN and LPN applications for possible links to the three Florida schools.
Other state nursing boards are also reviewing their licensed nurses for links to the Florida nursing schools.
Due to the ongoing investigation, officials declined to release the names and hospitals involved in the case, KOIN 6 News reported.
The FBI arrested 25 people in connection with the diploma mill that sold over 7,600 fake nursing diplomas for $15,000 each.
One of the suspects, New Jersey resident Stanton Witherspoon allegedly conspired with administrators at the now-shuttered nursing schools to sell fake diplomas and transcripts that allowed nurses to sit for the state board exam. The operation raked in over $114 million in 5 years.
The defendants are charged with wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy. They could face up to 20 years in prison.
22 RNs and LPNs in Georgia were ordered to surrender their nursing licenses by mid-February, according to WSB-TV. Three of the nurses were fired from the Atlanta VA Medical Center.
The FBI is working closely with state nursing boards around the country to weed out thousands of fraudulent nurses who took shortcuts to obtain their nursing degrees.