A 29-year-old woman, Autumn Bardisa, has been arrested after allegedly pretending to be a nurse and treating more than 4,000 patients without a valid license.
Police began investigating Bardisa after leaders at AdventHealth Palm Coast Parkway Hospital in Palm Coast, Florida, became suspicious of her credentials. They claim Bardisa cared for 4,486 patients between June 2024 and January 2025 while using fake paperwork and a license number that actually belonged to another nurse with the same first name who worked at a different hospital.
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly called the case “one of the most disturbing cases of medical fraud we’ve ever investigated,” adding that Bardisa may have put thousands of lives at risk.
Bardisa allegedly told the hospital she had recently married and changed her last name, but she never showed proof. Officials also say she presented herself as an “education first” registered nurse — meaning she claimed to have finished nursing school but hadn’t passed the national licensing exam.
In January 2025, Bardisa was offered a promotion, but a co-worker discovered her nursing assistant license had expired and reported her. She was fired, and after a seven-month investigation, she was charged with seven counts of practicing a health care profession without a license and seven counts of fraudulent use of personal ID.
Police arrested Bardisa at her home on August 5 while she was wearing medical scrubs. She is currently being held in the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility on $70,000 bail.
Authorities are now working to identify patients treated by Bardisa and have set up a dedicated email — fakenursecase@flaglersheriff.com — for anyone with information.
This case comes shortly after another Florida woman, Gabriela Pereira, was arrested for allegedly performing laser surgery without a medical license. That incident left a patient with severe burns and tissue damage to her chin.
