Published On: January 27th, 2023Categories: Delaware News

Three Florida nursing schools sold thousands of fake nursing diplomas worth millions in a scheme that allowed aspiring nurses to bypass the required training to become licensed in the profession, federal prosecutors alleged Thursday. 

In Delaware, a combined 26 active registered nurse and licensed nurse practitioner licenses were annulled or voided through these findings, according to the Department of State. Spokesman Rony Baltazar-Lopez said there are 35 more nurses on the FBI list who have expired Delaware licenses.

Siena College, Palm Beach School of Nursing and Sacred Heart International Institute – all based in south Florida – combined to distribute more than 7,600 fraudulent diplomas worth over $100 million or roughly $15,000 per diploma, federal prosecutors said. All schools are now defunct. 

Twenty-five defendants, including school directors and diploma recipients, were charged in the scheme and each face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Attorneys for defendants were not listed in a federal court database Thursday. 

Delaware licenses impacted; local business named

One of the people named in the federal indictment is Stanton Witherspoon of Burlington County, New Jersey, who was the founder and president of Nursing Education Resource Center, a Delaware limited liability company, located at 102 Larch Ave., Suite 203, in Newport.

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