By Lisa Backus

A woman who claimed to be a licensed practical nurse is facing charges in a fraud scheme that was uncovered after a Connecticut group home patient died, leading to the discovery that the woman was never vetted or trained by the facility or state agencies that paid her wages through Medicaid, according to an arrest warrant.

Officials said Karen Wurst, 71, of Raleigh, N.C., is accused of lying about, and then later fabricating, licensed practical nursing credentials for Suzean Langan, 48, of Manchester, while running the West Hartford staffing agency NurseSpan.

After the man's death, Wurst used the nursing license number of a retired nurse who previously worked for NurseSpan to create fake records on Langan to show the group home, which was conducting a medical review of the death, the warrant said. Wurst also gave facility officials her own expired cardiopulmonary resuscitation certification card that she altered to make it look like it belonged to Langan, the warrant said.

The warrant said Langan never attended school to become an LPN, but worked as one for at least nine months at 18 Oak Hill facilities that were funded through two state agencies — the state Department of Developmental Services and the state Department of Social Services.

It is unclear if anyone with the two state agencies or Oak Hill, one of the state's largest providers of care for people with intellectual, physical or developmental disabilities, checked with the state Department of Public Health's online license verification website to determine if Langan was actually licensed to work as an LPN.

It is also unclear whether Oak Hill had asked for Langan's credentials, including her CPR certification card, prior to the death.

According to a spokesperson for DDS, it would be up to Oak Hill, the service provider, to verify Langan's license, do a criminal background check and check whether she was on the state agency's abuse and neglect registry, which is laid out in their contract.

Kevin Bronson, the DDS spokesperson, said the agency "regularly reviews its policies, procedures, and contractual requirements and will continue to do so to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place."

A spokesperson for Oak Hill said they were cleared of any wrongdoing by the criminal and DDS investigations.

"The well-being of the individuals we support has always been and remains our highest priority," a spokesperson for Oak Hill said in a statement issued Tuesday. "In this case, Oak Hill terminated the contract with the staffing agency and its worker in 2023, and Oak Hill cooperated fully with the DDS and criminal investigations. Those investigations cleared Oak Hill of any responsibility for the actions of the staffing agency and the worker."

Through NurseSpan, which provided nurses and LPNs to supplement staff at medical facilities, Langan worked with at least 80 patients at various facilities from 2022 until the man died in 2023, the investigation revealed, according to the warrant.

“Langan’s behavior included medicine administration and care for medically complex and fragile individuals and completion of medical records,” officials said, noting Wurst then billed the facilities for $133,682 in Medicaid-qualified services. There was also another $19,000 for Langan's work that had not been billed by the time the investigation was underway, bringing the total fraud to potentially more than $150,000, the warrant said.

The Medicaid fraud scheme was revealed in 2023 after Langan performed a medical procedure on a patient involving the operation of a gastronomy feeding tube, leaving the man with severe complications, including choking, vomiting and loss of consciousness, officials said.

Although the man appeared to be aspirating on the fluids Langan administered through the tube, she didn't call 911 for 45 minutes and instead sought advice from management about what to do, the warrant said. The man died, which prompted a Middletown police investigation that was turned over to the state's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

Wurst and Langan have been charged with health insurance fraud, conspiracy to commit health insurance fraud, first-degree larceny by defrauding a public community, conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny by defrauding a public community, first-degree identity theft, conspiracy to commit first-degree identity theft, 18 counts of violation of licensing requirements and 18 counts of conspiracy to commit violation of licensing requirements.

Officials said Langan was also charged with first-degree assault of a disabled person.

The man who died under Langan's care had complex medical needs and lived at an Oak Hill facility that received state Medicaid funding from DSS through DDS for his care.

Investigators with the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit determined Oak Hill's protocol requires a registered nurse to review with Langan the procedures for dealing with the feeding tube and what to do if an emergency arises, but the training never happened because they presumed she had training as an LPN and would know what to do, the warrant said.

Officials and employees at the Middletown Oak Hill facility where the death occurred in 2023 told investigators that Langan and Wurst both presented that Langan was an LPN licensed to provide medical care in Connecticut. Whether or not a person has a valid medical license can be verified on the DPH license lookup website, investigators said.

It is unclear if anyone at Oak Hill or the two state agencies looked up Langan's license to practice as an LPN prior to her being allowed to work with medically complex patients. Wurst's license as a registered nurse expired in 2020, the license lookup website indicates. There is no license listed for Langan, according to the website.

Both women told investigators they did not present that Langan was an LPN as she was working for Oak Hill, the warrant said. Other staff at the Middletown group home where the man died told members of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit that Langan had presented herself as an LPN on several occasions, according to the warrant.

Wurst was released on a $75,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in state Superior Court in Hartford on Feb. 18. Langan was released on two $50,000 bonds and will appear in Hartford Superior Court on Friday.