‘Fake’ Florida Nurse Treated 4,400+ Patients: Sheriff

Am I being arrested? >> You are. >> Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. >> Can I ask Can I. >> We have plenty of time to talk. >> It's probably one of the most unusual. cases that I think uh we have. investigated since I've been sheriff and. probably in my career. >> A Florida woman is out of a job and. facing criminal charges after. authorities say she was caught using. another woman's identity to work as a. nurse at a hospital. Yeah. The sheriff. says she had contact with more than. 4,000 patients despite failing the. national license exam to become a.

registered nurse. And you are not going. to believe what else the sheriff. revealed at a news conference. I'm going. to be sitting down with a Florida. attorney to talk about the serious. trouble Autumn Bardisa is now in. Welcome to Sidebar presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. There is a lot of fingerpointing going. on right now in Florida's Palm Coast. area, and this is all thanks to a. woman's alleged scheme to fake her. nursing license. 29-year-old Autumn.

Bardisa faces multiple fraud counts for. her alleged deception. But many say some. blame should also be on the hospital for. not catching her in a lie. Bardisa was. arrested on Tuesday, August 5th, in Palm. Coast and seemed shocked and confused. that she was being taken into custody. I'll tell you what, we got the body cam. Take a look. >> Hey there. Are you Autumn? >> Yeah. >> Can you step out of the car for me, please? >> Sure. >> Turn around. Put your hands on your. back. >> Oh, wait. What's going on?

>> Put your hands behind your back. >> Okay. My child's across the street. >> Okay. All right. All right. >> Am I being arrested? >> You are. Hold on. Hold on. Um, can I ask. what can I. >> We have plenty of time to talk. >> Just give us just a minute. >> Can I ask my car? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. We'll take care of that. >> Can I call my boss so I can go to the. >> You have any other weapons? >> I just want to go. >> So, let let me just tell you there is a. felony warrant for your arrest. Okay.

>> The bond the there is a bond on it. Okay. Which is good. It's, I believe, 70,000 is the bond amount. Okay. Um, so. you can bond out. >> What? For what? For what? >> Um, >> you know what all this is about? >> Not really. I kind of had something with. the Department of Health, but I had my. license. >> Okay. >> And I thought it was squared away. because it's clear and active. >> Okay. So, that that does stem from this. Um, we were contacted, not me directly, but some a guy with um,

Health and Human Services reached out to. you a couple months ago. >> Yeah. And I had had an attorney and I. haven't heard from anything since. >> Okay. So, the attorney reached out to. him and said that you were currently. being represented and all that other. stuff. >> Yeah. >> I'd love to have a conversation with. you, but if you're represented by an. attorney and that's somebody that wants. to be here for all that that kind of. questioning, I obviously limited on. where this conversation can go. Can I. know what this feel? >> It's it has to do with with with medical.

fraud. I can get the exact thing. I. don't remember off the top of my head, but it has to do medical and stuff stuff. like that. >> Okay. >> Um. >> you have um you have seven counts of. uh identity theft and seven counts of. practicing without a license. And this. does stem from everything with the. Department of Health and Advent Health. and all of that stuff. >> I mean, you're you're already aware of. it. We you you've given statements to. them to other investigators before. This. is just your first time meeting me. >> Okay. I did.

>> So, no, I I've I've been with the other. guys whenever they're doing their. investigation, but I was not face to. face with you. >> Okay. Okay. >> So, >> so. >> can I just my phone at least? >> Yeah. Well, no, no, no worries. We'll. let you do all that. Um, now. we we can't just take the handcuffs off. you because I mean you I know you're. saying you're not going to have flight, but I mean you've seen TV, you watch the. movies like like you see. >> I've never had record. I've never done. anything. >> I'm not saying I'm not saying you have.

Okay. But we just don't want to we we. don't want it to escalate to some place. that we that we put it um because we. take the handcuffs off you. But what we. can do is get the person who's watching. your child and if you want to tell them. what's going on, you certainly can. I. mean, or if you want us to tell them, >> can I call them? Can I Can you just take. them off so I can call her on the phone. at least? >> Yeah. Yeah, that's fine. >> Okay. >> No, no, no. I'm not going to, but I'm. going to grab your phone. >> We'll grab your phone and put on speaker. for you. >> Yeah, we'll grab we'll grab your phone. and put on speaker. No, no, the point is. is that is that I'm not saying you're.

going to do anything. We. >> we take the handcuffs off that gives you. the it puts it there. Okay. >> Okay. It's not. >> It's 0411. and can you go to recent calls and then. Yeah. camera. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Turn it up for you.

>> Looks like your front door's open. >> Yeah, I was walking. Yeah, please. >> Did you want to step inside out of the. heat. >> for a second? >> Is that Are you. >> Yeah. I mean, no. Anyone else inside the. house? >> Grab your keys. >> Okay. Can these get I promise. >> Can anyone Is anyone else inside the. house? >> Just my dog, but he's. >> Can these be taken off? I I won't do. anything. >> We We can't take take them off for right. for right now. Okay. >> Come walk through the house. >> here. I mean I mean like I said just. >> Yeah. I'll just move my car in the.

driveway. >> Now, arrest reports and a news. conference from Flaggler County Sheriff. Rick Staley provided more information. about the exact allegations here. uh we. believe that there were over 4,400. uh patients that she was in one manner. or another that was involved in care at. Advent Health Palm Coast uh which is our. newest hospital in Flaggler County. >> So here's now the question. How is this. possible? How could a person con.

themselves into a job where they're. going to interact with thousands of. people and potentially hold those. people's lives in their hands? Well, according to Sheriff Staley, Bardisa. graduated from Rasmusen University March. of 2022. Advent Health hired her in July. of 2023 as an advanced nurse tech. She. had reportedly indicated on her. application that she was an education. first registered nurse, which means she. had the schooling to become an RN, but. hadn't been licensed yet. Nurse techs.

work under the direct supervision of an. RN or a licensed practical nurse. Advent. Health says she was hired with the. expectation that she would take the. national counselor lensure examination. Sheriff Staley says she did take the. exam, but she failed it. So, when Advent. Health circled back to find out about. the testing, Bardisa told them she was. scheduled to take it. Then a few months. later, apparently told an inquiring HR. specialist that she had passed the exam. and obtained her license. The license.

number she provided came back as valid. But the thing about it was allegedly. with a different name. Yeah. Autumn. Hood. Bardisa reportedly told the HR. person that she'd recently gotten. married, so her new last name was Ruba, and the license might not reflect that. right away since it had just happened. The HR person told her to upload a copy. of her marriage certificate to an Advent. Health database, but it turns out that. was never done. And then no one.

seemingly followed up on it. This is. from the arrest documentation. Quote, "Due to Autumn Bardis's fraudulent use. of another person's identification. information and Advent Health's. oversight on the discrepancies, Autumn. was allowed to start the nurse residency. program where she graduated on June. 20th, 2024 and accepted a position as a. registered nurse at Advent Health." So, how was her alleged fraud uncovered? Well, she got a promotion. Yeah. Early. January 2024, Autumn was offered a. promotion to charge nurse, which sparked.

interest by her colleagues. An. unidentified nurse checked the status of. Autumn's license and discovered that the. only license that Autumn Bardisa had was. a delinquent certified nursing assistant. license. The CNA license had expired on. Friday, May 31st, 2024. So, this. prompted Advent Health to start an. inquiry which led to asking Autumn for. her pre-requested marriage license to. confirm her licensed identity. And then. it says Autumn gave several excuses and. ultimately could not provide the.

documentation and was terminated on. Wednesday, January 2nd, 2025. So, Bardisa is facing seven charges of. practicing a health care profession. without a license, seven counts of. fraudulent use of personal. identification, and according to arrest. documentation that was filed with the. court, from June 2024 through December. 2024, Autumn Bardisa had acted as a. registered nurse for approximately 4,486. documented patients of Advent Health.

So, we wanted to do a check on Bardis's. criminal history. So, we turned to the. powerful background checker, Truthfinder, that we use all the time. And all we had to do was enter Autumn. Bardisa's name and the state that she. lives in, and it immediately returned. information about her. And I'll tell you. what, we were able to confirm through. court records that Bisa has been cited. multiple times for driving offenses, including speeding and careless driving. Nothing connected to fraud, though. By. the way, Long Crime, we partner with. Truthfinder. We use it to get details on. people involved in our stories. But even. if you don't work in true crime, it can.

be an amazing resource to give you some. peace of mind. Why? It's one of the. largest public records search services. in the United States. And with a paid. subscription service, you can get access. to unlimited reports about almost. anyone. So, right now, you can get 50%. off of your first month of confidential. background reports. Just go to. truthfinder.com/lcidebar. So, now to talk about this bizarre case. and get insight into potential. consequences, I want to bring in Florida. trial attorney Alexis Rosenberg. Alexis, great to see you. Have you heard? I've. heard of cons before. This one's.

different. Well, Jesse, thank you for. having me. I mean, there's a lot to. unpack here. One of the first things. that jumps out at me is what the heck. was going on in Advent Health. They have. a duty to make sure that their health. care professionals are appropriately. credentialed and have license before. they set them loose on patients. >> What is the legal exposure for Advent. Health? Because this is not, you know, catch me if you can. This is a situation.

where well a little bit in the movie but. a little bit I mean you're talking about. somebody who really didn't have the. authority the license to treat these. patients in the way that she presumably. did. What is the do they go back and. look at the cases uh uh of every every. one of these people she treated and if. god forbid something happened to them. can Advent Health now be on the hook. because of what this person may or may. not have done? I mean yes and these are. just allegations at this point but just. taking it as true. You have to wonder.

what the ripple effects are. >> Well, first I think you're aging both of. us with the catch me if you can. But um yes, Avent does have Avent Health. does have exposure. They have an. obligation to make sure that they're. like I said before their professionals. are appropriately licensed and. credentialed. So you also have the issue. with there's potentially an issue with. billing. I'm assuming that they have. build what's called government. entitlements such as Medicare and. Medicaid and they've gotten paid for.

these services that were were. fraudulently build in essence because. this particular provider wasn't. appropriately licensed. So they have. that issue along with potential if she. and we don't know yet if she created or. caused any like harm physical harm to. these patients. Um, but if let's say. that she did and there's a malpractice. lawsuit, then they would potentially be. liable civily for that as well. If. Medicare and Medicaid potentially.

believe that Advent had um knowledge of. this or should have had knowledge, there. potentially could be a a cause of action. for Medicare or Medicaid fraud. potentially on the criminal level. >> By the way, my understanding is she got. fired from Advent Health months ago. And. in that body cam video, she's wearing. scrubs. Like, did she, you know, take. the test? Did she get a real license? Did she get a job somewhere else? That. that's something that would confuse me.

>> Well, it's definitely something of a. concern. Is she still is she still. practicing somewhere else? Did she get. someone else to hire? You know, what. jumped out at me about this story was. also that the number that she was using. for this other autumn um actually worked. for a health as well. So, I I'm I'm a. little confused why when they put it in. their system with that number that it. didn't pop up that the real Autumn was. at a different location for the same. company. >> It's a good point. It's a good point. Uh, okay. So, Sheriff Staley explained a.

little bit more about this investigation. and more specifically the charges that. she now faces. >> They fired her. Uh, two months later, they notified us of the incident which. began a seven-month investigation. And the reason it took seven months is. you have to remember that we are trying. to thread the needle on HIPPA laws. And. so we have to have victims. We don't. know who the victims are. And we also.

have to uh work with the hospital to. obtain victim names. And so that. requires subpoenas and investigation. And that takes a while uh to complete. Now, with 4,000 over 4,400 victims, if you. will, in this case, we worked with the. Seventh Circuit Judicial State. Attorney's Office, which is R.J. LaRissa, uh, to determine how you can't.

really charge 4,400. counts. Uh, I guess you could, but it's. going to significantly bog down the. criminal justice system. So, the time. that she was uh employed as a what they. thought was a fully certified RN. was 7 months. So, they charged one count. for each month that she worked at the. hospital as allegedly a fully licensed.

authorized RN. So, that's why it's seven. counts. Seven counts of practicing. uh medicine without a license basically. in seven counts of identity fraud. You. go to a hospital and you trust that the. hospital staff. is fully licensed, prepare to serve you. in whatever your medical need is. And so. you have to have faith in in the system.

And I think in this case it showed that. there was some flaws at least in. followup. and a very trustworthy hiring process. when you say I just got married that's. why my last name is different uh and. they they asked her to provide but there. was no followup. So, I think there were. some some mistakes made in the hiring. process, but you can deal with Advent. Health uh on that. Um because we only.

look at the the criminal case and what. led up to it, what caused it. To our. knowledge, there's no uh serious injury. or death uh related to this uh incident. And you know, she must have done a good. job even though she wasn't licensed. because they were looking at a promotion. to charge a nurse, which is what. triggered the review of her file and. ultimately how she got caught. >> Honestly, that's a Alexis, that's a good.

point. I mean, we were talking about. what was her treatment like. If she was. going to get a promotion, she was. probably doing a good job. Look, if that. is true that no one was harmed, um, that. would be the best news. It's wild to say. the least. And and I am curious, you. know, he makes the point you can't. charge or you could, but it would be so. impractical over 4,000 counts. Does the. way that they're charging her make sense. to you? Are 14 total charges enough. given the scope uh of her alleged. crimes? >> Well, I and I handle cases that have to.

do with healthc care fraud in New York. and Florida. And I have to say that it's. a little more complicated with them. proving this because it's not simply. that she necessarily held herself out. because it was a nurse unlike a doctor. scenario. So it really depends on those. treatment records if she was providing. let's say um you know doing things in. those records that reflect that she was. acting and doing duties such as an RN. So I think that's when he was getting. into proving it would boggle it down.

where we just do seven. I mean, she's. facing some serious charges based on the. seven counts. Really, the there's. mandatory minimums just for using the. other person's information that attached. just to that opposed to the practicing. um you know the medicine. Well, also. what jumped out at me is that he was. saying something about HIPPA and in what. it is contained in the information. that's out there is that Evan Health was.

dragging their feet turning over that. information. there was a subpoena that. was issued and they kept on trying to. get extensions. So, it was them that was. on top of everything else dragging their. feet to actually provide law enforcement. with how many patients she actually. allegedly treated and the the record. stating what she actually did in that. alleged treatment. >> By the way, as far as I understand, at. the time of this recording, there is no. um outcry witness, right? no specific.

person who came forward to say they were. a victim to get, you know, an. investigation going. Does that make a. difference in how she's charged or how. the case moves forward? >> Not with the charges that she's been. charged with. the the for instance the. misusing of the information is more or. less that you look at depending on the. account the counts whether it's first. degree second degree or third degree. whether um you know how many victims in. this case there's really only one victim.

that she stole their personal. information and then how much financial. gain that she got now uh you know if you. look up the average uh nurse RN in. Florida makes about 80,000 she was doing. this for seven months so you know we're. under what would be first degree of. 50,000 anywhere in between and there's. mandatory minimums for that. Now with. the practicing medicine it's not really. um necessarily like he said you could do. 4,000 because there's 4,000 alleged.

victims. Um but I I think what they did. is once you get it just gets ridiculous. doing the seven is probably was probably. a good approach. Now, uh, Sheriff Staley. mentioned that it took quite a while to. get all the information they needed. because of push backs and delays on the. part of Advent Health, but he made sure. that people knew that the sheriff's. office didn't have any of the victim's. actual medical records. Take a listen. >> So, let me make it very clear. We did. not receive any medical records. So,

what the victims in this case or the. patients uh were in the hospital for is. unknown to us. Uh all we have is their. name uh because they were a victim of uh. the crime. >> Alexis, just to make this a little bit. clarify this point, how complicated is. it to bring a case like this to court? You know, a lot to consider privacy. laws, hospital policies related to the. release of information, witnesses who. may be reluctant to talk because a lot.

of different issues. fear of. retaliation, um, embarrassment, you know, you trying. to make sense of what the impact is, uh, that she might have had at this this. medical health institution. Um, what do. you think? >> So, the the the counts related to. stealing the one individual is, it seems. to be pretty straightforward. The counts. related to practicing without a license, once you get in court, they'll be able. to get subpoenas. There's also ways even.

with HIPPA to turn over records that you. can redact certain things, you could get. releases. It's not super complicated. once they've now filed charges to get. that necessary information. I think once. it's tried, a good defense attorney is. really going to attack those records to. say, "Listen, she really wasn't acting. as an RN." Because remember, she was. employed for, I believe, almost two. years prior not under or acting as an.

RN. So, you know, we you would really. look at those records and say, okay, what's contained in the records that. they're saying she actually did wouldn't. necessarily qualify for someone acting. as an RN. And that would be um you know, a strategy to take as a defense attorney. to get this down. Now, the taking of the. personal information, I think that's. going to be a really hard to overcome. >> What could her defense be? the defense. for take I don't see a defense for.

taking the personal information. I do. see like I had stated before the defense. that even though they had given her for. those seven months that label or title. as an RN that she actually was still not. performing RN duties and that's really. going to lie in those medical records. >> By the way, talking about that, I want. to talk for a moment about the woman. whose identity that Bardisa allegedly. used to get this RN position. So, according to the sheriff, the woman. attended the same university at the same.

time, but they didn't know each other. Take a look. >> You know, I would say this is greed or. wanting a job uh so bad that you would. manipulate a system and assume. somebody's identity to be able to. practice. You went to school, but you. failed the exam. and instead of uh and. she told them that she was taking uh an. exam uh but that's when she produced the. identity and the other ironic part of.

this case is and maybe this is how she. found this particular individual. She. found somebody with her first name, different last name, but how she was. able to find is they actually went to. school together. Uh but they did not know each other. >> Wow. >> So somehow she found it. Same. university, same uh hiring class, if you. will, through Advent. Uh but they never.

they never met. They never knew each. other. >> Did you notify the other autumn? >> We we did. And I can tell you this has. uh made her life uh havoc if you can. imagine with all the licensing that's. required by the state of Florida and by. nationally to have somebody uh assume. your identity. Uh this is certainly. worse than credit card fraud, you know, and taking somebody's identity to get a. credit card or a mortgage. You're. dealing with the lives potentially of of.

patients that have been admitted. So, it's a very uh unusual case. Probably. one of the most unusual cases that I. think uh we have investigated since I've. been sheriff and probably in my career. >> Oh, and get this. Both Autumns worked. for Advent Health. The other woman. worked at a hospital in a different part. of the state. Now, Alexis, you know, one. would think that Advent Health systems. would catch that two different people. were using the same license number. This.

at the very least is a wakeup call to. them. >> Well, I think it goes beyond I think in. my opinion it's complete negligence on. their part that yes, you're right. She. was at in their system. The real Autumn. was in their system already. So, that. should have raised red flags. But just. the followup of the whole process, in my. opinion, they were negligent. Um, but. yeah, I I mean, I honestly I disagree. with the sheriff though. I don't know. how uncommon I think because we have the.

two autumns because in Miami you hear. about you know people practicing. medicine without a license on the. regular. >> Oh yeah that's a thing. Oh boy. Maybe we. got to dedicate another sidebar to that. Um all right. Well I'll tell you what. When we stick with Bisa though for a. second. Um more of her alleged. misconduct was detailed in court. documents. So, the chief nursing officer. for Advent Health was tasked with doing. an investigation and uncovered that. she'd allegedly given drugs to fellow. employees, including the weight loss.

drug OMPic. Quote, her statement further. mentioned that an unidentified employee. came forward stating that they had. purchased prescription medication from. Autumn Bardisa, which was identified as. semiglutide, commonly referred to as. ompic. The same unidentified employee. stated that Autumn Bardisa had. previously administered a birth control. injection to a second unidentified. employee. It had not been identified by. Advent Health where the prescriptions.

were filled. As if the allegations. couldn't get worse, Alexis, what do you. make about this? >> Well, so they. >> and by the way, why why no drug charges? Why no drug charges either? >> Well, that's a good question. But I mean. more important so at some time during. this she did have her certified nursing. assistance certificate license. I think. it expired right before she uh you know. the year before. So I'm not sure in time. when when all that happened. But as a. certified nursing assistant you're not.

allowed to inject medicine. So the. injection is a problem um under that. license. So that would go towards what. we were talking about. Were was she. doing stuff that was something that an. RN could do opposed to someone that did. not have an RN license. So you're not. allowed to dispense. She wouldn't be. allowed to prescribe medication and nor. would she be allowed to inject anybody. with a medication. So that's a problem. And those even though they're being. marked now as unidentified, I'm pretty.

sure that it's going to come out who. those are. It sounds almost what you. were saying, Jesse, that this person who. came forward was a little unhappy about. them maybe getting her getting promoted. and the other person not and went on a. deep dive to find out, you know, what. what was about this person. >> That is definitely a possibility. And. I'm sure people would have a lot of more. questions for Advent Health, right? So, multiple media outlets, they reached out. to Advent Health about these. allegations, about what happened here. hospital responded, "We do not comment. on private personnel matters or pending.

legal matters. All inquiries should be. directed to the Flaggler County. Sheriff's Office." Now, Bardisa was. given a $5,000 bond for each charge. So, that's $70,000 total. And as of this. recording on Friday, August 8th, Flaggler County inmate information shows. she has not been released. An. arraignment is scheduled for September. 2nd. This is after the Labor Day holiday. weekend and we will continue to see what. happens next. Alexis Rosenberg, thank. you so much for coming on. Appreciate.

it. >> Thank you for having me as always. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time. [Music].