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Florida resident Autumn Bardisa was arrested on Aug. 5 after a months-long investigation
Police claim Bardisa posed as a licensed nurse and provided medical care to more than 4,400 patients
The sheriff called the alleged incident “one of the most disturbing cases of medical fraud we’ve ever investigated”
A woman in Florida has been arrested after allegedly impersonating a nurse and treating over 4,400 patients without a valid medical license, authorities have said.
On Wednesday, Aug. 6, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) confirmed officers had arrested Autumn Bardisa, 29, of Palm Coast, at her home in her scrubs the day prior after accusing her of posing “as a licensed nurse and provided medical care to thousands of unsuspecting patients,” per a news release.
Investigators had discovered Bardisa allegedly “had participated in medical services to 4,486 individuals from June 2024 through January 2025, despite never holding a valid nursing license,” the FCSO said.
She began working at AdventHealth Palm Coast Parkway in Palm Coast in July 2023, before her contract was terminated on Jan. 22 of this year.
The arrest came after a seven-month investigation into Bardisa’s alleged crimes. Hospital administrators had reported “they had terminated Bardisa for impersonating a registered nurse by utilizing another individual’s license number and submitting false documentation to be employed as an advanced nurse technician” at the facility, the release stated.
The hospital claimed that Bardisa had been hired as an advanced nurse tech to work under the supervision of a registered nurse, on July 3, 2023, the sheriff’s office confirmed.
“When applying for the position, Bardisa indicated that she was an ‘education first’ registered nurse, meaning that she passed the required schooling to become a registered nurse but had not yet passed the national exam to obtain her license,” the release noted.
Bardisa had then informed the hospital that she “had passed the exam and provided a license number matching an individual with her first name, Autumn, but with a different last name,” police alleged.
She insisted she’d recently gotten married and had a new last name in a bid to explain herself.
“Bardisa was then asked to provide her marriage license to AdventHealth, which she never did,” the release alleged.
Despite never providing the information, Bardisa was offered a promotion in January 2025, and this sparked “interest among her colleagues,” the FCSO alleged.
Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility
Autumn Bardisa
A fellow employee then “checked the status of Bardisa’s license and discovered that she had an expired certified nursing assistant license, which the employee reported to administrators,” the release noted.
During an investigation, AdventHealth “discovered that Bardisa had never provided her marriage license as requested to confirm her identity,” the sheriff’s office said, stating that the suspect’s contract was then terminated earlier this year “after she failed to confirm her identity.”
After the hospital contacted the FCSO to conduct a criminal investigation, detectives and investigators with the Florida Department of Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services “reviewed documents and conducted interviews with AdventHealth employees and the nurse whose identity Bardisa stole,” the release stated.
“The investigation determined that Bardisa shared a first name with the other nurse, who was employed by AdventHealth, but at a different hospital, and had attended school with her. However, the two did not personally know each other,” the FCSO confirmed.
An arrest warrant was issued for the suspect on the following charges: seven counts of practicing a health care profession without a license and seven counts of fraudulent use of personal identification information.
“The FCSO Fugitive Unit located Bardisa at her residence and arrested her on her active warrants. She was transported to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility, where she is being held on a $70,000 bond,” the release noted.
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FCSO Sheriff Rick Staly called the case “one of the most disturbing cases of medical fraud we’ve ever investigated.”
“This woman potentially put thousands of lives at risk by pretending to be someone she was not and violating the trust of patients, their families, AdventHealth and an entire medical community,” Staly said, per the release.
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“Thanks to great investigative work between our detectives and State Attorney, Florida’s 7th Circuit R.J. Larizza’s Office and AdventHealth, along with our state and federal partners, she’ll now be held accountable for her reckless and dangerous actions,” he added.
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office didn’t have any additional information to add at this time when contacted by PEOPLE
AdventHealth said they “do not comment on private personnel matters or pending legal matters” when contacted by PEOPLE.
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