ST. LOUIS (AP) — A federal grand jury in St. Louis has accused a woman of impersonating a nurse and spending three months at a hospital’s intensive-care unit and with elderly psychiatric patients.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports 35-year-old Samantha Rivera is charged with health care fraud and identity theft. Authorities say she has lived in New Mexico and St. Louis and now resides in Illinois. Authorities allege Rivera stole a real nurse’s identity and worked from late November through February at St. Alexius Hospital.
She has never been licensed as a registered nurse in any state or graduated from nursing school. Online court records show that Rivera was charged April 21 in New Mexico with fraud, forgery and identity theft.
Online court records don’t show whether Rivera has an attorney.