A convicted identity thief who admitted to impersonating a nurse in Virginia nearly a decade ago is accused of impersonating a nurse at at least two Southern California hospitals this year, authorities said.
Amanda Porter, 44, was arrested Nov. 7 in connection with a nursing job she obtained at a Burbank medical center using the identity of a registered nurse who lived out of state, city police said Thursday in a statement.
Porter, who does not have a nursing license, was charged with identity theft, false impersonation and grand larceny, the department said. Jail records show she is being held without bail.
Her attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California.
Prior to her arrest in that case, the department said, Porter was in custody on similar charges related to a hospital in nearby Santa Clarita, California.
It was not immediately clear what charges Porter might face in that case. Jail records show the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office was the arresting agency. The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Virginia case
At the time of Porter’s arrest on Nov. 7, she was on probation for a separate federal fraud case in Virginia, according to the Burbank police statement. In a statement of facts in the federal case that Porter acknowledged as accurate, she admitted that she stole the identity of a registered nurse in New York in 2015 and used it to get a job as a supervisor at an area nursing home of Norfolk.
Porter, identified in the case as Amanda Porter-Eley, held the position for five months before she was fired in March 2016, the document said.
Using the nurse’s name, date of birth and Social Security number, Porter admitted that she opened bank accounts and obtained loans totaling more than $100,000, buying a Mercedes Benz, diamond bracelets, a Ford Mustang for her son and bought other things. document.
She also tried to get a $176,000 mortgage but was denied, the documents said.
Porter was arrested at a Navy credit union in September 2016 while trying to open an account with another stolen Social Security number, the document said. While she was in custody, she told the arresting officer that “she steals money because it gives her a high like a drug,” the document says, adding “she wants to give it back after she stole it, but gives it out instead.”
Porter was indicted on multiple counts of wire and bank fraud involving the use of a fake Social Security number and aggravated identity theft. She pleaded guilty to two of the charges and was sentenced to nine years in prison.
As of March 13, 2024, she was no longer in federal custody, jail records show. The prosecutor in that case could not immediately be reached for comment, and her attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Take care of dozens of patients
In Burbank, Porter allegedly applied for a job at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center this year and supervised about 60 patients between April 8 and May 8, police said. Hospital officials discovered she was posing as an out-of-state nurse and fired her, the department said.
After determining that Porter’s credentials had been forged, officials immediately notified state and local authorities and the patients she cared for, the hospital said in a separate statement.
During her first five shifts at the hospital, she was supervised by a trainee nurse, the facility said.
Several months later, about 25 miles away, officials at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Santa Clarita learned in October that “an employee” had forged documents to get a job, the hospital said in a statement.
“Upon discovering this, we immediately took appropriate action, including terminating her employment and reporting her to regulatory and law enforcement authorities,” the hospital said.
The hospital added that Porter, who was not named in the hospital statement, was under the supervision of a nurse and there was no indication that care was compromised.
Burbank police said investigators believe Porter committed similar crimes in Southern California over the past year and asked people to contact police if they came into contact with her at a medical facility.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
