1/28/2024 0 Comments Education connection![]() ![]() Together they schemed with Siena College of Health/Siena Education Center in Lauderhill and Palm Beach School of Nursing “to sell fraudulent diplomas and college transcripts,” according to court records. They cooperated with authorities and were sentenced to more than two years and three months in prison in 2022.Īdrien owned two private education companies, Docu-Flex & More and PowerfulU Health Care Services, where Predestin was an employee. ![]() The investigation, aptly dubbed Operation Nightingale, began in 2019 with a tip from Maryland that led to an FBI undercover operation that initially targeted two Fort Lauderdale business people, Geralda Adrien and Woosvelt Predestin, who both pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. They could all see their nursing licenses revoked. Other students were recruited from out of state to participate in the fraudulent nursing programs, authorities said. Many of the students who purchased degrees were from South Florida’s Haitian-American community, including some with legitimate LPN licenses who wanted to become registered nurses. Nurses certified in New York have the ability to practice in other states, including Florida. Of those, one-third, or about 2,400 students, ended up passing their licensing exams, mainly in New York, which imposes no limit on the number of times that students can take the exam. Their punishment will also be influenced by the amount of money each one made off the nursing-school scam.Īn estimated 7,600 students paid a total of $114 million for phony nursing degrees from the South Florida schools and other suspect programs between 20, according to the FBI and the U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal, but they are expected to receive less than the maximum because they accepted responsibility for their crimes. ![]() The network of nursing school operators, centered in South Florida, illegally charged each student between $10,000 for a licensed practical nurse degree and $17,000 for a registered nurse diploma - without requiring proper training, according to federal authorities and court records.Īll of the defendants face up to 20 years in prison at their sentencing hearings this summer before U.S. Overall, they are accused of selling fabricated nursing degrees to thousands of students who then used the bogus diplomas to take licensing exams in several states, including Florida, New York, New Jersey and Texas. They were all arrested as part of a take-down in January of 25 suspects who were swept into a major crackdown on South Florida nursing school operators that began with a tip four years ago. On Wednesday, five defendants who worked for the Palm Beach School of Nursing and other businesses pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to commit wire fraud in Fort Lauderdale federal court. wave of business operators charged in a South Florida nursing-school racket that authorities say sold thousands of phony diplomas for millions of dollars has cut plea deals rather than go to trial. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida in Downtown Miami, Florida, on Wednesday, January 25, 2023.ĭ.A. United States Attorney Markenzy Lapointe speaks to the media about a network of nursing school operators, centered in South Florida, who allowed students to buy diplomas without the proper training as representatives from FBI Miami and Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Miami Regional Office stand behind him during a press conference at the U.S.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |