By Allen Cone

Feds have busted a $250 million scam that sold thousands of fake nursing diplomas to unqualified individuals with no professional training.

These fraudulent nurses have now infiltrated the nation’s healthcare system, endangering the lives of vulnerable patients in hospitals and nursing homes.

It was found that the scam operated mainly within the Haitian immigrant networks in South Florida after an informant tipped off the feds.

The Special Agent in Charge of the Inspector General’s Miami Office at Health and Human Services said they sent an undercover agent to secure a nursing diploma to catch the fraudsters red-handed.

Now, dozens of nursing schools in Florida are at risk of having their licenses revoked while the fraudsters face years in prison.

Feds bust $250 million scam

Special agent Isaac Bledsoe revealed that an “individual” informed them of the fraud scheme after their family advised them to get a fake nursing diploma from a school in South Florida.

The nursing diploma was reportedly around $16,000, the amount the informant was reportedly asked to borrow to secure the diploma.

“We had an undercover reach out to one of these schools in South Florida, put themselves out as an individual who has no healthcare background but looking to buy, wants to be a nurse, looking to buy a nursing diploma, and ‘what can they do?’” Bledsoe said.

Fraudster Geralda Adrien was found guilty of recruiting and collecting money from individuals seeking to buy fake diplomas to get into the U.S. healthcare system.

The fraud scheme that ran across the nation had sold fake diplomas to 15,000 nurses worth $250 million.

While Adrien’s business acted as the broker of the scheme, accredited Florida nursing schools like Palm Beach School of Nursing, Siena College of Health, and Carleen Health Institute came under fire for supplying the fraudulent diplomas and transcripts.

Undercover agent catches fraudster red-handed

At a small storefront in Fort Lauderdale, the undercover agent sent by Bledsoe met a woman, Adrien, the owner of the fraud business, asking for a nursing degree without training or classes.

The fraudster inquired about the agent’s readiness to become a nurse.

“Because if you’re ready to go now, I have a way of getting you tested in a school in New York. It is the easiest state for processing. You don’t have to go to New York; you can test here [Florida], but you just get processed through the board of New York,” Adrien said.

Ultimately, the undercover agent bought a fake nursing diploma for $16,000 and busted the multi-million-dollar scam, thus accomplishing the objective of Operation Nightingale.

Fraudsters get jail time

In addition to Adrien, several nursing school owners were convicted, including Johanna Napolean, Eunide Sanon, and Carleen Noreus of Carleen Health Institute.

District Judge Raag Singhal sentenced Gail Russ, registrar at the Palm Beach School of Nursing in Lake Worth, to 78 months in prison, an official HHS-OIG report stated.

43 other people involved with the scam were arrested and convicted. They were sentenced to somewhere between four and six years in prison.

While buying fake degrees is not considered a crime, supplying them is, Bledsoe said, explaining why the feds did not arrest fake nurses.

The owner and operator of a defunct nursing school in Palm Beach County was sentenced to 87 months in prison for her role in a scheme that sold fraudulent nursing diplomas and transcripts to individuals seeking nursing licenses and employment throughout the U.S.

In Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, Carleen Noreus, 52, of Plantation, was sentenced by federal District Judge Raag Singhal to seven years and three months in prison to be followed by two years of supervised release. The two 84-month charges are to run concurrently.

She faced a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison on each count.

Noreus was vice president of Carleen Home Health School II, Inc. in West Palm Beach and president of Carleen Home Health School, Inc. in Plantation.

"Carleen Noreus stands before this Court ready to accept whatever punishment this Court deems appropriate," her legal staff wrote to the judge. "Carleen has accepted responsibility and is remorseful for her actions. She understands the seriousness of what she has done, and she understands that she has disappointed people and caused pain. She carries that responsibility with her."

She was described as "a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and sister," and she has no criminal history.

"She is ready to serve this time with dignity, self-reflection, and positivity," the letter reads. " Mrs. Noreus asks this Court that she be sentenced to no more than 60 months of imprisonment."

In June, she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The trial began on June 1 in Fort Lauderdale, and she changed her plea before the jury reached a decision.

The West Palm Beach school, located at 4645 Gun Club Road, was ordered to suspend graduations and new enrollments by the Florida Commission for Independent Education on Feb. 10, 2023, and was formally shut down shortly afterward due to its involvement in a massive, nationwide fraudulent nursing diploma scheme.

Noreus and others conspired to sell fraudulent nursing diplomas and educational transcripts to individuals who had not completed the required coursework or clinical training to earn Registered Nurse, Licensed Practical Nurse/Vocational Nurse or Bachelor of Science in Nursing credentials, according to DOJ.

Between April 17, 2018, and Oct. 8, 2025, Noreus was responsible for providing 2,956 fraudulent nursing diplomas through the schools, according to testimony at the trial.

Of the individuals who obtained fraudulent credentials, approximately 2,274 passed nursing board examinations, allowing them to obtain nursing licenses and work as nurses in Florida and across the country.

The fraudulent diplomas and transcripts allowed them to sit for the national nursing board examinations. After passing those examinations, they could obtain nursing licenses and employment in the healthcare field.

“Nursing licenses must be earned through education, training, and demonstrated competence, not purchased through fraud,” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said in a statement. “By selling thousands of fraudulent diplomas and transcripts, the defendant undermined the integrity of the nursing profession and our healthcare system. The Southern District of Florida remains committed to holding accountable those who profit by corrupting professional licensing processes and placing the public at risk.”

Operation Nightingale

This case is part of the second phase of Operation Nightingale, which targeted fraudulent nursing diploma schemes operated by for-profit nursing schools in South Florida.

Fraud-related charges were against 13 defendants, including Noreus, for their roles in selling fraudulent nursing diplomas and transcripts.

On Dec. 3, the former director of Techni-Pro Institute nursing school in Boca Raton was found guilty in federal court of collaborating with the owner and recruiters in selling fake diplomas as part of Operation Nightingale.

On Feb. 26, Stephanie Dorisca, of Coral Springs, was sentenced to 57 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release with a $600 special assessment.

Dorisca was convicted of conspiring to commit wire fraud and five other charges after a three-day federal trial in Fort Lauderdale.

A 12-person jury convicted her of selling about 1,000 fake diplomas for millions of dollars to students recruited from Texas.

Techni-Pro, located at 414 NW 35th St., offered "Practical Nursing," "Associate of Science in Nursing," and "Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing" programs.

In September, Dorisca was among 12 people charged for their roles in selling fraudulent diplomas and transcripts in Phase 2 of Operation Nightingale.

Techni-Pro owner Gilbert Hyppolite, 73, of Palm Beach County, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and sentencing has been set for July 7 in Fort Lauderdale.

Palm Beach County residents charged in Phase 2 were Irene Matthews, an agent at Agape Academy of Sciences in Delray Beach, and Jose Napoleon, director of admissions for Azure College in Fort Lauderdale. Agape Academy was dissolved in December 2024.

Matthews pleaded guilty on Dec. 15, and sentencing has been set for July 29. Napoleon pleaded guilty on Nov. 19, and he was sentenced on April 22 to four months in prison and one year of supervised release. He was ordered to surrender by noon on Monday.

In Phase I of Operation Nightingale, 30 defendants were charged and convicted in 2023 through guilty pleas or trial verdicts.

More than 7,600 fake nursing diplomas were issued by the Palm Beach School of Nursing in Palm Beach County, Siena College in Broward County and Sacred Heart International Institute in Broward County. They are all closed.