A Canadian woman that impersonated nurses and other professionals for decades by using fake identities has been sentenced to seven years in prison for fraud.
50-year-old Brigitte Cleroux was arrested in Ottawa last August after her act was discovered by a colleague that sought to file a complaint against her with a governing body for nurses and an imposter alert emerged.
In January, she pleaded guilty in January to seven offences which include impersonation and assault with a weapon — for administering medication and injections to no fewer than 20 patients at a fertility clinic and a dental clinic.
Ontario Court Justice Robert Wadden was quoted by CBC as saying her fraud struck “at the core of the trust our society puts in our health-care system.”
While talking to AFP, her lawyer said If the time spent in detention awaiting trial is factored in, Cleroux will serve five years and eight months in a federal penitentiary.
According to reports, Cleroux had committed similar frauds throughout her life as an adult by using forged resumes and fake identity cards with many aliases and accumulating a long criminal record.
Whenever she is found out, she disappears before she could be held accountable. She still faces prosecution on charges of posing as a nurse at a British Columbia hospital for one year.
Many patients have also launched a lawsuit against the British Columbia health authority for failure to verify her nursing credentials when employing her.
