DEVELOPING:
Texas Nursing Board files Criminal charges against 23 Nigerians for obtaining FAKE LVN, Registered Nurse School Certification
*‘Board is authorized to file Formal Charges against a nurse if probable cause exists that the nurse has committed an act listed in Tex. Occ. Code §301.452(b) or that violates other law. See Tex. Occ. Code §301.458’
*“I cannot comment on an ongoing investigation. It is really deeply disturbing”-Serena Bumpus, DNP, RN, CEO of the Texas Nurses Association
*BY GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU/AMERICAN Senior Investigative Editor in Texas
THEY ARE NIGERIAN-TWENTY THREE ALTOGETHER working in the Health sector in Texas. They parade themselves as Nurses, flaunting their Registered Nurse, RN status and LVN achievements in every fora or gathering of African communities in the United States. An undercover investigation under a code named ‘Operation Nightingale’ has exposed these health professionals for paying various huge sums of money to obtain ‘fake degrees of diploma or certification in the health sector. Only a few days ago, the Texas Nursing Board has officially filed criminal charges against these ‘health professionals’.
The Board has filed Formal Charges against the following nurses for fraudulently obtaining educational credentials. The Board is authorized to file Formal Charges against a nurse if probable cause exists that the nurse has committed an act listed in Tex. Occ. Code §301.452(b) or that violates other law. See Tex. Occ. Code §301.458. Further, Formal Charges are publicly available. See Tex. Occ. Code §301.466(b). Please note that Formal Charges are not a final disciplinary action, and a nurse is permitted to work, as a nurse, while Formal Charges are pending.
This list will be updated continuously as the Board receives additional information about the fraudulent diploma/transcript scheme.
The Texas Board of Nursing charges 23 people as part of the reverberations from “Operation Nightingale” which uncovered a national scheme involving thousands of fake nursing degrees.
In mid-February, the board filed formal charges against 23 nurses for “fraudulently obtaining educational credentials,” according to its website.
The accused are Jacob Abanda; Yetunde Abiodun; Agnes Addai, RN; Abiodun Adelakun, RN; Joseph Adelekan; Vivien Adeoye; Modinat Adewale; Olufemi Afolabi; Omowunmi Afolabi; Odumegwu Agbo, RN; Charlot Ajibade; Olabisi Akande; Catherine Akhigbe; Folasade Akinrolabu; Esiri Ako; Rosemary Akpan; Bukola Alimi; Awingrug Anaaba, RN; Ndirika Ani; Spendilove Anthony-Annor, RN; Nchekwube Aroh; Albert Asanga; and Sherifat Ayodeji.
Nursing students who paid thousands of dollars to the people running the scheme told ABC affiliate KTRK they are worried about their careers.
“We had classes. We did our clinicals at a clinic. Really, nothing seemed out of the normal,” one woman told KTRK. Four people in Texas-Anna Itaman, Simon Itaman, Serge Jean and Ludnie Jean-have been charged with leading the scheme. One former student of Jean’s NCLEX Review told the news outlet she “wasted two years of my life with that school.”
Serena Bumpus, DNP, RN, CEO of the Texas Nurses Association, told KTRK she could not comment on the ongoing investigation but called it “deeply disturbing.
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