A Dallas woman has pleaded guilty to stealing the identity of a registered nurse and using that identity to work for eight hospice companies, authorities announced this week.
Jada Necole Antoine, 33, stole an RN’s driver’s license and Social Security number. She posed as the woman whose ID she stole to get hired at hospice providers in the Dallas-Forth Worth area starting in 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Over the course of three years, Antoine allegedly provided direct patient care even though she did not have any type of medical license.
Antoine was not allowed to take the state nursing exam in 2008, because she said she had attended a university that was not accredited, The Dallas Morning News reported.
About $2.3 million in Medicare claims were submitted in relation to services that Antoine provided, the DOJ stated in a press release Tuesday. Antoine has pleaded guilty to one count of fraud and faces a potential maximum prison sentence of 15 years, plus a $250,000 fine and restitution.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 16, 2015.
