02 February 2023, North Rhine-Westphalia, Münster: A nurse takes a blood sample from a blood donation at Münster University Hospital (UKM). Photo: Friso Gentsch/dpa (Photo by Friso Gentsch/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Nearly two dozen nurses in Georgia are maintaining their innocence after being accused of buying bogus nursing degrees and fake college transcripts.
On Monday, WSB-TV reported that the FBI notified state investigators that 22 nurses who are practicing in Georgia reportedly acquired their licenses with phony diplomas and transcripts.
The revelation prompted the Georgia Board of Nursing to contact those nurses, demands that they voluntarily surrender their nursing licenses within 30 days, according to the outlet.
On Wednesday, an attorney representing five of those nurses, Hannah Williams, told WSB-TV that her clients have done nothing wrong, and that they will not surrender their licenses to work as a nurse in the state of Georgia.
“My clients maintain that they are legitimate,” Williams said.
The nurses in question are reportedly amongst over 7,600 nationwide who paid $15,000 for the fake diplomas, all of which had been “issued” by three south Florida nursing schools.
Last week, the Department of Justice and FBI announced that they had brought down a $100 million fraud ring that had been operating on a nationwide scale.
According to federal prosecutors, the nurses purchased degrees and transcripts without ever going to class.
However, Williams claims that not everyone with a degree from those schools had acquired it through unsavory means.
The schools in question are all real, accredited nursing schools, with Williams insisting that her clients had rightly earned their degrees.
“Look, nobody wants a fraudulent nurse taking care of them or their loved ones. However, in this case what we have are allegations and an investigation. We have to allow that process to play out before we rush to judgment,” Williams said.
Letters to surrender their nursing licenses were sent out on Jan. 17. As of Thursday, none of the 22 nurses have done so.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whose office oversees the Nursing Board, called the situation “concerning and alarming” for patients statewide.
“It’s concerning and alarming,” Raffensperger told WSB-TV. “Our job is to make sure that our people in Georgia, our patients know they have credentialed nurses that are practicing there,” Raffensperger said.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe put it bluntly, saying “the fact of the matter is the nursing candidates had done no work for these diplomas.”
WSB-TV reports that three of the accused nurses worked at the Atlanta VA Medical Center.
“Within days of learning of this nationwide scheme, we removed three nurses from patient care at the Atlanta VA Medical Center. Their removal is very unfortunate but patient safety is and must be our primary responsibility at VA,” said VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes.
State investigators are currently working with the FBI to acquire the evidence necessary to revoke the licenses of any of the nurses who refuse to surrender them voluntarily, Secretary Raffensperger said.
