By Shannon Firth

As part of a years-long investigation into a dangerous and wide-ranging nursing scam involving fake diplomas, federal prosecutors announced new charges against a dozen more defendants this week.

The investigation -- dubbed "Operation Nightingale," in honor of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing -- focused on a number of bad actors selling fraudulent nursing diplomas and transcripts from multiple for-profit nursing schools, all of which are now closed.

"The charges highlight the purpose of a professional nursing licensure: protecting the public from harm by ensuring that only qualified and competent practitioners provide nursing care," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida said in a press release on Monday.

In the first phase of the investigation, 30 defendants were charged and convicted in 2023. In total, the scammers sold 7,300 fake nursing diplomas.

A network of nursing school operators and recruiters charged thousands of "students" approximately $10,000 to $20,000 for fake academic credentials.

Using sham diplomas and transcripts, buyers could take the national nursing board exam. Those who passed received nursing licenses that enabled them to obtain employment as registered nurses (RNs) and licensed vocational or licensed practical nurses (LVNs/LPNs) from "unwitting" healthcare facilities across the country, federal prosecutors said.

The scheme was hatched in Florida around April 2016 and continued roughly until July 2021.

In the wake of the new charges, the Florida Nurses Association (FNA) called for stricter laws around private nursing schools.

"We're the ones that see things when things go wrong, we're the ones that report them, we're the ones that react," said Willa Hill of the FNA, pointing to the importance of "highly educated, highly qualified" nurses.

The 12 new defendants in phase two of the investigation include Herline Lochard of Orange County, Florida, a former registered agent or manager for Orlando- and Miami-based training institutes, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and was sentenced to 13 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release; Carleen Noreus, of Broward County, Florida, a former president of home health training programs in West Palm Beach and Plantation, who was charged with wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit both; and Patrick Buchanan, also of Broward County, a former owner, registered agent, and manager of a healthcare institute in Lauderhill, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Eight other Florida-based defendants and one from New Jersey were also charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud: Gilbert Hyppolite of Palm Beach County; Irene Matthews of Palm Beach County; Lemuel Pierre of Broward County; Joel Lubin of Miami-Dade County; Jose Napoleon of Palm Beach County; Victor Escalante Zerpa of Miami-Dade County; Cleophat Tanis of Collier County; Stephanie Dorisca of Broward County; and Lonnette Blair, of Camden County, New Jersey.

Defendants face a maximum of 20 years in prison for such charges.