Licenses that Miami and Broward nurses lied about education to get remain ‘Clear/Active’
Three nurses in Miami-Dade and Broward who “knowingly misrepresented” their educational background still have “clear/active” licenses according to the license information on the Florida Department of Health website — but the department has filed complaints to change that.
Administrative complaints against Homestead’s Armando Berro Palomino, Miramar’s Jocelyn Aristilde and Coral Springs’ Elizabeth Etoama start the disciplinary process that could end with their licenses being revoked by the state Board of Nursing.
These complaints are fallout from the Operation Nightengale federal court indictments. Owners, workers and recruiters from Lauderhill’s Siena College of Health Pompano Beach’s Sacred Heart International Institute and the Palm Beach School of Nursing in Lake Worth to sell diplomas and transcripts to students who wanted to become registered nurses or licensed practical nurses.
READ MORE: Nursing school operators plead guilty to selling fake diplomas
Sacred Heart’s president Charles Etienne and Siena’s owner Eunide Sanon pleaded guilty earlier this month.
As for alleged beneficiaries of the scam...
▪ Berro Palomino got his registered nurse license Aug. 9, 2021. In applying for the RN’s license by re-examination, the complaint says, he “indicated he attended and graduated from Siena College of Health,” an approved nursing school by Florida statutes.
But, Berro Palomino “failed to complete the requirements for graduation” from Siena.
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▪ Aristilde has been a licensed registered nurse since Nov. 13, 2020. He said on his application for licensure by examination that he’d graduated from the Palm Beach School of Nursing. The state didn’t have a problem with the Palm Beach School of Nursing as an approved school, but said Aristilde didn’t complete the graduation requirements.
▪ Etoama’s Jan. 4, 2022 application to the Board of Nursing to be a licensed practical nurse by examination included the claim she’d graduated from Sacred Heart International Institute. The complaint said she hadn’t graduated Sacred Heart but still gained her license on Aug. 23, 2022 by knowingly misrepresenting her educational credentials.
This story was originally published April 23, 2023 at 2:21 PM.
