Laredo resident sent to prison for impersonating licensed nurse

LAREDO, Texas - A 36-year-old woman has been sentenced for her conviction of false statements in a health care matter, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.

Nora Nely Avila pleaded guilty Jan. 3, 2021.

U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison has now ordered Avila to serve 18 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release.

At the hearing, the court heard evidence that Avila incorrectly took out stitches from a patient's wound, leading to an infection. In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Ellison entered a money judgement against Avila for $52,241.66.

Avila admitted that from January 2017 through December 2019, she impersonated a nurse and performed unlicensed work at multiple hospitals and home health companies in the Laredo area.

From 2017 until 2019, Avila stole the identity of a licensed nurse and repeatedly and fraudulently presented the license and credentials of this licensed nurse at federally-funded Medicare and Medicaid providers throughout Laredo.

At other home health agencies, Avila falsified patient records and failed to show up to work which left patients without needed care. Avila also obtained employment as nurse trainer in the federal-funded Job Corps program and was assigned to train future nurses.

Previously released on bond, Avila was permitted to remain on bond and to surrender at a later date.

FBI, Department of Health and Human Services - Office of the Inspector General (OIG), Department of Labor - OIG, Homeland Security Investigations and the Texas Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn Olson prosecuted the case.