Palm Coast, Fla. (WFLA) — A Palm Coast woman has been arrested after posing as a licensed nurse and providing care to more than 4,000 unsuspecting patients, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said.
According to FCSO, a seven-month investigation began in January 2025 after hospital administrators reported that they had finished their fall Bardisa at age 29 because they were impersonating registered nurses.
Bardisa is allegedly using another person’s license number and submitted false documents to be hired as a senior technician at AdventHealth Palm Coast Parkway.
According to the hospital, Bardisa was hired as an advanced nurse skill on July 3, 2023 and worked under the supervision of a registered nurse.
When Bardisa applied for the position, she showed that she was a “education number one” registered nurse. That is, she passed the schooling required to become a registered nurse, but she did not pass the national exam to obtain her license.
Deputies said during the hiring process, Bardisa passed the hospital’s exam and provided a license number that matches someone, but provided her with a license number with a different surname.
When asked about her name, Bardisa tried to explain the various surnames, stating that she recently married and has a new surname.
Bardisa was asked to provide AdventHealth with a marriage license, but she never did.
In January 2025, Bardisa was offered a promotion, attracting attention among her colleagues. During this time, a fellow employee checked the status of Bardisa’s license and discovered that she had an expired certified nursing assistant license.
Employees reported her findings to managers, and AdventHealth began its own investigation.
AdventHealth quickly discovered that Bardisa did not offer her marriage license to verify her identity.
Bardisa was fired on January 22, 2025 after failing to verify her identity.
AdventHealth contacted FCSO to conduct a criminal investigation after she was fired.
Deputies said after a seven-month investigation, detectives and investigators from the Florida Department of Health and the U.S. Health Service reviewed the documents and conducted interviews with nurses stolen by employees and identity Bardisa.
The investigation determined that Bardisa was employed at AdventHealth but was employed at another hospital and shared the first name with other nurses who attended school with Bardisa, but they didn’t know each other personally, deputies said.
Bardisa participated in medical services for 4,486 people without a nursing license from June 2024 to January 2025.
“This is one of the most disturbing medical fraud cases we have ever investigated,” Sheriff Rick Staley said. “This woman risks thousands of lives by pretending to violate the trust of patients, families, events and the entire medical community. She, along with her state and federal partners, is responsible for her responsibility and risk, thanks to the incredible investigative work between our detectives and the state attorney, the office of RJ Laliza, Florida’s 7th Circuit, and AdventHealth.”
The search warrant obtained a seven-count search warrant for healthcare professionals without a license and seven-count search warrants without misuse of personal identification information.
On August 5th, Bardisa was arrested by the FCSO’s escape unit and taken to Sheriff Perry Hall’s prisoner detention center where she was detained on a $70,000 bond.
Anyone who believes they may be victims should contact the sheriff’s office by email at fakenursecase@flaglersheriff.com.