Man arrested for posing as school nurse


Updated: Tuesday, 10 May 2011, 9:08 PM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 10 May 2011, 1:39 PM EDT

A Lake County man is facing a number of charges after deputies say he took a dead man’s nursing license and altered it for his own use to work as a school nurse.

The Lake County Sheriff's Office arrested Jose Carlos Rodriguez, 37, Monday and charged him with impersonation, uttering a false instrument, and practicing nursing without a license. He was released from the Lake County jail on $5,000.00 bond.

Investigators say on April 4th they received a complaint from Lake County School officials regarding Rodriguez who had been working at Lake Hills School as an LPN without a license.

Rodriguez had been employed by Lake County Schools since December 2006

Deputies say Rodriguez obtained a copy of an LPN license that belonged to a Jose Rodriguez who died in February 2010 and altered it for his own use and that at one time he was a licensed EMT but the status of his EMT credentials is unknown.

School officials tell investigators that they documented numerous issues with Rodriguez's performance and at some point checked his license status via the Department of Health at which time they learned that the certificate he claimed as his own actually belonged to a deceased individual of the same name. Rodriguez was confronted with evidence of his fraudulent certificate by school officials and was suspended for poor job performance. He then resigned.

The sheriff’s office says the State of Florida Health Department is also investigating.

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