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Leticia Gallarzo of Allegan County has been indicted by a federal grand jury for impersonating a registered nurse while working at an undisclosed hospice facility and nursing home. This appears to be a case of identity theft. Gallarzo has been convicted in Texas on similar charges:
https://www.wlns.com/news/michigan-nurse-impostor-indicted-by-feds-for-fraud/
Michigan nurse ‘impostor’ indicted by feds for fraud
By Skyler Ashley - September 27, 2023GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WLNS) — A woman from Allegan County has been indicted on several federal charges after allegedly posing as a registered nurse to defraud employers.
Mark Totten, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, announced Wednesday that Leticia Gallarzo, 48, has been indicted by a federal grand jury for several charges, including wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, making false statements in medical records, and production of a false identification document.
Gallarzo faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for wire fraud and two years mandatory imprisonment for aggravated identity theft if convicted. She was previously indicted for similar charges in Texas.
The indictment alleges Gallarzo used the Michigan licensing number and the name of a person licensed as a nurse to obtain employment as a registered nurse at two different locations: a nursing home and a hospice facility.
According to the indictment, she did not possess a valid nursing license or a degree of any kind in nursing, despite claiming she had a master’s degree in nursing from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Davenport University.
The hospice facility discovered Gallarzo’s fingerprints matched other fingerprints that were on record due to her previous state and federal convictions for practicing nursing without a license in Texas in 2015 and 2016. She was then arrested by Michigan State Police.
“As alleged in this case, the defendant recklessly and willingly put the lives of innocent patients at risk,” said Cheyvoryea Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Michigan.
Woman admits to stealing Michigan nurse’s identity in scheme to get medical job
By Bradley Massman | November 07, 2023GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A West Michigan woman has admitted to stealing and using another person’s identity in order to get a job as a licensed registered nurse, federal prosecutors said.
It’s not the first time, either, that 49-year-old Leticia Gallarzo is in trouble for practicing nursing without a license.
Gallarzo, of Allegan County, pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday, Nov. 7, to single counts of aggravated identity theft and making a false statement in a medical record affecting a health care benefit program.
The identity theft charge carries a mandatory two-year prison sentence which must be served before any sentence imposed on the other charge.
“The allegations that Ms. Gallarzo faked being a licensed nurse and created false medical records are extremely alarming,” said U.S. Attorney Mark Totten. “By allegedly posing as a certified medical professional, she risked patient care and put unsuspecting individuals in harm’s way.”
Gallarzo falsely represented that she was a licensed registered nurse and had completed a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Davenport University when applying for a job at a local nursing facility, court records show.
Federal prosecutors did not say where, specifically, Gallarzo worked.
When transmitting her application to a prospective employer through Indeed.com, Gallarzo used someone else’s identification who she knew was actual licensed registered nurse in Michigan.
After obtaining a job as a nurse, Gallarzo evaluated and assessed elderly nursing home patients and falsely signed electronic medical records as a licensed registered nurse.
The false statements were related to Medicare. The nursing home relied on Gallarzo’s status as a licensed registered nurse to meet certain Medicare regulations for participation in and billing of Medicare, prosecutors said.
Gallarzo has previous state and federal convictions for practicing nursing without a license in Texas in 2015 and 2016.
A sentencing date was not immediately scheduled on Tuesday.
Gallarzo skipped sentencing, but was finally apprehended in California. She will be a BoP resident for at least the next six years:
‘More than a fraud case’: Woman gets prison for pretending to be nurse
By Anna Skog - January 27, 2026GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A woman who provided a fake nursing license to work at a West Michigan health facility has been sentenced to years in prison, federal attorneys say.
Liticia Gallarzo, 51, who used to live in Wayland, was sentenced Monday to 6 years, 3 months in prison for creating fake medical records saying she was licensed as a registered nurse and for pretending to be a real nurse licensed in Michigan, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.
Gallarzo pleaded guilty to the federal charges in November of 2023 but then skipped sentencing scheduled for July 2024. Her bond was revoked.
She worked as a registered nurse — although she wasn’t one — from August of 2022 to May 2023 at a Grand Rapids hospice care facility. She got the job through Indeed.com by pretending to be an actual registered nurse and provided a fake nursing license, diploma and identification documents to make it look like she had been trained as a nurse.
After she got the job, she was promoted to unit manager. According to attorneys, Gallarzo did patient assessments, gave medications and started IVs, amid other nursing duties.
Eventually, her “performance as a nurse faltered,” attorneys said, and she was demoted. As she applied to other jobs, a prospective employer figured out Gallarzo was not who she said she was and reported her.
After she was charged, plead guilty and skipped sentencing, Gallarzo fled to Illinois and then California, where she got jobs as a physician assistant and registered nurse. She was found in Los Angeles and brought back to Michigan for Monday’s sentencing.
Gallarzo had also done this previously, attorneys say. In 2016, she was convicted of impersonating a licensed nurse in Kent County and convicted of the same thing in Texas in 2017.
“This is far more than a fraud case. Nurses make life and death decisions for the people under their care, and everyone has the right to expect that their health is being attended to by a person with extensive medical training,” wrote U.S. Attorney Timothy VerHey in a Tuesday release. “It is shocking that Gallarzo would repeatedly put herself in such a position, without any of the necessary training, just because she wanted money.”
He noted that investigation did not discover that anyone was physically harmed by Gallarzo’s actions, “but that is just a happy accident.”
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