Fake nurse administered medication to patients at Maryland nursing home, officials say

Story by Natalie Demaree

A Maryland woman has been sentenced after officials said she posed as a registered nurse and handed out medication to patients at a nursing home.

Nicole Van-Horn, 38, faked documentation as a registered nurse to get a job at Denton Nursing and Rehab, the Maryland Attorney General’s Office said in a Jan. 30 news release.

On Jan. 22, she pleaded guilty to one count of Medicaid fraud after she was accused of causing Maryland Medicaid to pay over $3,500 for fake nursing services, prosecutors said.

Now, Van-Horn will serve five years of probation with the first three years under supervision by the Division of Parole and Probation, officials said.

“When someone poses as a medical provider and practices without a license, they threaten the health and safety of those entrusted to their care — a threat made even more serious when their patients are elderly or disabled, some of the most vulnerable Marylanders in our State,” Attorney General Anthony G. Brown said in the release.

Van-Horn fraudulently used identification from a registered nurse in Pennsylvania who has a similar name, then worked nine shifts in August 2023 at the nursing home and rehabilitation center, officials said.

She also pretended to have degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania State University, but records of her attending those schools do not exist, according to prosecutors.

During her time working at the nursing home, Van-Horn “administered medications, cared for patients, and supervised registered nurses, geriatric nursing assistants, and certified medical assistants,” officials said.

Van-Horn is not allowed to work as a nurse unless properly licensed during her probation, and she is not allowed to care for older or vulnerable adults, officials said. She is also excluded from working with any federal- or state-funded health care agency.

Denton is about a 45-mile drive southeast from Annapolis.

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Fake nurse administered medication to patients at Maryland nursing home, officials say