For five years, the authorities say, a woman named Shannon worked at about 20 nursing homes and rehabilitation centers across at least four states, tending to patients.
Sometimes she used the last name Parham, other times Armstrong and, on occasion, Grimes. But according to law enforcement officials, one thing was constant: She didn’t have the qualifications or credentials to work as a nurse.
This week, as part of its continuing investigation, the Pennsylvania State Police charged the woman with endangering the welfare of care, unlawful use of a computer, identity theft, forgery, theft by unlawful taking and several other charges, the agency said in a news release on Wednesday.
Now, the state police is asking health care companies across Pennsylvania to help investigators retrace where she worked and under which aliases among at least 20 that the authorities said she was known to have used.
The police charged the woman as Shannon Nicole Womack, the name she eventually gave after her arrest on April 5. The Pennsylvania driver’s license she handed to a state trooper after being pulled over identified her as Shannon Nicole Lawson, 39.
Fingerprinting added to the puzzle. According to court records, running her prints through a computer system yielded yet another name: Shannon Nicole Robinson.
“We know who we have, but maybe not every letter of her name is in the right place,” Trooper Rocco Gagliardi, a state police spokesman, said.
The authorities in Pennsylvania say the woman posed as a licensed practical nurse, registered nurse and even nurse supervisor by using false names and paperwork.
So far, investigators have confirmed that she worked in at least nine nursing homes and rehabilitation centers in Pennsylvania, the authorities said, and they are learning about others. All but one facility was in the western part of the state.
“Reports indicate Womack worked at each of these jobs for only a short time,” the state police said in their news release.
The investigation into the woman began with a routine traffic stop.
On April 5, a state trooper pulled over a woman with expired license plates near Interstate 79 in Cecil Township, nestled in the rolling terrain of Washington County, near Pittsburgh.
The name she gave the police?: Angel Renee Kelly of Kentucky.
But moments later, the authorities said, she revised that, saying her true name was Angel Gardner-Spikes of Georgia.
After that, she gave them another name: Shannon Nicole Lawson of Pennsylvania.
It was that last alias that cracked the shell, the police said.
A quick computer search turned up warrants tied to “Lawson” in several states. Georgia wanted her on a charge of aggravated identity fraud. Tennessee, New Jersey and Indiana accused her of impersonating a nurse or practicing without a license.
Prescription drugs believed to have been stolen from patients at the facilities where she had worked in Pennsylvania were found in her car during a search, according to court documents. Patient logs and medical equipment, including laptops, iPads and cellphones, were also found.
Several facilities had placed Ms. Womack on a “Do Not Retain” list, either for poor performance or professional misconduct, in some cases involving drugs, according to court records.
In one instance, the authorities said, she took more than 120 oxycodone pills from Southmont of Presbyterian Seniorcare in Washington County, Penn., where she had worked one shift on March 1 and was in charge of the medical cart.
Investigators said that Ms. Womack cycled through seven different Social Security numbers to help conceal her true identity, according to a probable cause affidavit filed with a criminal complaint.
Even after she was charged, the authorities said, they were still trying to confirm her true identity.
The state police said that they had considered charging her as “Jane Doe.” But after they sifted through official documents and conflicting interviews, they settled, at least for now, on Shannon Nicole Womack.
“The team worked with the D.A.’s office to charge her under that name,” Mr. Gagliardi said in an interview, “but we’re prepared to adjust if new information comes in before the hearing.”
Ms. Womack is currently in Washington County Correctional Facility and has yet to make an appearance in court. It was unclear if she had a lawyer.
Mark Walker is an investigative reporter for The Times focused on transportation. He is based in Washington.
The post She Tended to Patients Across 4 States. But She Wasn’t a Nurse, Police Say. appeared first on New York Times.
