Wayland woman sent to prison over ID theft, fake nursing degree. What to know

A girl who posed as a registered nurse a number of instances in Michigan and elsewhere — even creating false paperwork to help the rip-off — and later fled the state to keep away from conviction has been despatched to federal jail for greater than six years, officers mentioned this week, after she was captured in California.

Leticia Gallarzo, 51, previously of Wayland, Michigan, was sentenced Tuesday, January 26, to 75 months in jail for making false statements concerning healthcare points and aggravated id theft. Gallarzo was additionally ordered to pay greater than $81,000 in restitution and can serve three years of supervised launch as soon as he leaves jail, in line with U.S. Lawyer Timothy VerHey and on-line courtroom information.

“That is far more than a fraud case,” VerHey mentioned in a press launch. “Nurses make life and dying selections for the folks of their care, and everybody has the fitting to anticipate their well being to be cared for by somebody with intensive medical coaching.”

America Lawyer’s Workplace for the Western District of Michigan charged Gallarzo with fraud and aggravated id theft on September 26, 2023, and he or she was launched on a $25,000 bond. She pleaded responsible in October 2023, however after coming into a responsible plea and awaiting her sentencing listening to, Gallarzo fled the state.

“(She) once more fraudulently obtained employment as a doctor assistant and nurse in Illinois and California,” the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace mentioned.

She was finally arrested close to Los Angeles, California, and returned to the Western District of Michigan for sentencing, the discharge mentioned.

“It’s stunning that Gallarzo repeatedly put herself in such a place, with out the required coaching, simply because she wished cash,” VerHey mentioned within the press launch. “I’m very happy to say that our investigation didn’t reveal that anybody was bodily harmed by Gallarzo’s conduct, however that’s merely a lucky coincidence and never due to something she did. Gallarzo has greater than deserved the 75-month jail sentence that Decide (Paul) Maloney imposed.”

The present case marks the third time Gallarzo has been convicted of falsely representing herself as a nurse, the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace mentioned. In 2016, the Kent County Prosecutor’s Workplace convicted Gallarzo of fraudulently impersonating a registered nurse. In 2017, Gallarzo was convicted by the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Southern District of Texas.

Federal officers say Gallarzo labored as a registered nurse at a nursing house in Western Michigan between August 2022 and Could 2023 after acquiring the job via Certainly.com by assuming the id of an precise registered nurse licensed in Michigan.

“Gallarzo created a false nursing license, diploma and identification paperwork to make it seem to the nursing house that she was in actual fact a person educated and licensed as a registered nurse,” the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace mentioned in a information launch. “After receiving a job, Gallarzo utilized for and was promoted to the place of unit supervisor, which implies she supervised different well being care professionals within the care they offered to nursing house residents.”

Gallarzo carried out affected person assessments, administered drugs, began intravenous strains and carried out different nursing duties, the discharge mentioned. Gallarzo was finally demoted primarily based on her efficiency and started on the lookout for one other job as a nurse.

“Fortuitously, her potential employer revealed her actual id and reported her to authorities,” the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace mentioned.

Gallarzo was initially indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of aggravated id theft, two counts of creating false statements concerning well being care issues, manufacturing of false IDs and wire fraud. All however two counts have been dropped in a settlement.

“This 75-month federal jail sentence sends a transparent and unmistakable message: Nobody can lie about their credentials, falsify medical information, or steal identities with out critical penalties,” mentioned Jennifer Runyan, Particular Agent in Cost of the FBI Detroit Discipline Workplace.