IPNEWS-Monrovia: Following the reports that the Chief Executive Officer of Spoon Network, Stanton A. Witherspoon has broken silence over reports that he has been linked to academic fraud and charged by US federal authorities.
Mr. Witherspoon said what is happening out there regarding the reports will be addressed at the appropriate time due to the legal implications, as he has been advised by his legal team to stay clear of making public statements in details regarding the reported case brought against him and other US residents.
He said the Spoon Talk Show will continue to be aired despite what is out there concerning him, but he informed that he will always be on the show as his family is doing ok, including his wife and children.
He lauded everyone who has reached out to him following the news of the ongoing legal suit hanging over him regarding what is out there, but assured that at the appropriate time he will speak to the matter in detail for Liberians and everyone to get a clearer picture.
Feds: 3 South Florida Nursing Schools Sold 7,600 Fake Degrees Worth US$100M; 25 Charged
–Crackdown dubbed ‘Operation Nightingale’; Stanton Witherspoon Linked
It can be recalled the on Wednesday, January 25, 2023, US Department of Justice in South Florida had announced a crackdown involving 25 persons who reportedly offered fake nursing credentials to clients.
Three now-shuttered South Florida nursing schools sold more than $100 million worth of fake nursing diplomas, leading authorities to charge more than two dozen people, federal prosecutors said Wednesday afternoon.
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe and representatives from FBI Miami and Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General spoke at a news conference in Miami Wednesday.
Authorities charged 25 people across multiple states in the scheme, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors have made 21 arrests, with two more suspects expected to surrender in the coming days. Those charged were from Florida, New York, New Jersey, Texas and Delaware.
“Individuals have been charged across multiple states with wire fraud crimes, including conspiracy,” Lapointe said.
They dubbed the crackdown “Operation Nightingale,” after legendary nurse Florence Nightingale.
Lapointe said in the scheme, owners, operators and employees of three formerly-accredited South Florida nursing schools would sell fake diplomas and transcripts for an average of $15,000.
That group made up the first category of those charged.
“The nursing candidates had done no work for these diplomas,” he said.
The three schools were the Sacred Heart International Institute in Fort Lauderdale, Siena College of Health in Lauderhill and the Palm Beach School of Nursing in West Palm Beach.
The second category of defendants included recruiters who would bring “students” from other states to get the “shortcut” documents from the South Florida schools, Lapointe said.
“This was truly large-scale,” he said.
Over 7,600 fake nursing diplomas were sold by the South Florida schools, according to prosecutors.
“We’re looking at around $114 million paid for these documents,” Lapointe said.
Nearly a third of the fake diploma-holders could be practicing, officials said. Those diploma-holders were able to pass a written nursing exam.
“The last thing we want to learn is that the nurses administering the medications, the ones charged with carrying out a doctor’s orders took shortcuts on their clinical training and used fake nursing diplomas to get their licenses and jobs,” Lapointe said. “Unfortunately, thousands of people have taken these shortcuts.”
Many of those who bought the phony degrees had health care experience, Lapointe said, including licensed practical nurses.
“Whether or not you passed the licensing test, to me, that’s beside the point,” he said. “To me, if you pass the test, but you haven’t done (required clinical modules), that’s no redemption in any way whatsoever.”
Lapointe said agents have alerted nursing boards across the country about the fraud.
An FBI special agent said South Florida “lead(s) the nation in health care fraud” and said state nursing boards may be taking action against the accused fraudulent nurses.
Officials said they have not learned of any harm to patients linked to those who received fraudulent diplomas, but did say they are working with state licensing boards to ensure anyone who received a fraudulent diploma no longer provides care.
“We know who they are,” Lapointe said.
The following people were charged in the case:
Gail Russ
Cheryl Stanley
Krystal Lopez
Ricky Riley
Norberto Lopez
Francois Legangeur
Reynoso Seide
Cassandre Jean
Yelva Saint Preux
Evangeline Naissant
Rony Michel
Vilaire Duroseau
Yvrose Thermitus, aka “Yvrose Thompson”
Ludnie Jean
Serge Jean
Simon Itaman
Anna Itaman
Rhomy Louis
Nadege Auguste
Stanton Witherspoon
Alfred Sellu
Rene Bernadel
Eunide Sanon
Charges Related to Fraudulent Nursing Diplomas and Transcripts from Siena College.
U.S. v. Witherspoon, et al., case no.: 23-60005-Cr-Smith
U.S. v. Sanon, case no.: 23-60013-Cr-Moreno
The charging documents describe Siena College as a Broward County school licensed by the Florida Commission for Independent Education and the Florida Board of Nursing that offers a Practical Nursing Program and an RN to Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program. Eugene Sanon managed Siena College.
The indictment charges defendants Stanton Witherspoon of Burlington County N.J.; Alfred Sellu of Burlington County N.J.; and Rene Bernadel of Westchester County, N.Y. with conspiring to commit and committing wire fraud. The indictment alleges that Witherspoon, Sellu, and Bernadel solicited and recruited individuals who sought nursing credentials to gain employment as an RN or LPN/VN. It is alleged that these defendants arranged with Sanon, who managed Siena College and is charged by information with wire fraud conspiracy, to create and distribute false and fraudulent diplomas and transcripts. These fake documents represented that the aspiring RN and LPN/VN candidates had attended Siena College’s nursing program in Broward County and completed the necessary courses and clinicals to obtain RN or LPN/VN diplomas. In fact, the aspiring nurses never completed the necessary courses and clinicals.
The information against Stanton alleges that he and others sold thousands of fake Siena College nursing diplomas and educational transcripts to nursing applicants who used them to obtain RN or LPN/VN licenses in various states and nursing jobs with unwitting healthcare providers throughout the country.
