Samantha Rivera first pretended to be a nurse in 2015, when she lied on her resume to get a job teaching nursing at Brown Mackie College in Albuquerque, N.M. Although the college could not verify details she provided, including her education and employment history, the school did not notify the state’s nursing board that Ms. Rivera was posing as a nurse.
In September 2016, Ms. Rivera secured a job at St. Alexius Hospital in St. Louis by using the name and license number of a New Mexico nurse with a similar name to apply for a job through a staffing agency. On the application, she also falsely claimed to have a bachelor’s degree in nursing and experience working at a New Mexico hospital.
Ms. Rivera worked as a nurse in St. Alexius Hospital’s intensive care unit and its geriatric psych ward, but her contract was not extended in February 2017. She then applied for a job through a Chicago staffing agency, which discovered her nursing license and resume were fraudulent.
Ms. Rivera was indicted in May 2017, and she pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud and identity theft in October.
In addition to probation and house arrest, Ms. Rivera was also ordered to repay approximately $21,500 to the staffing agency that placed her at St. Alexius Hospital and $28,000 to the New Mexico nursing school she taught at, according to the report.
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