Woman, 42, pleads guilty in Texas fake registered nurse case

VICTORIA, Texas – Prosecutors say a woman with no medical training faces up to five years in federal prison after she faked being a registered nurse at five medical facilities in Texas.

Leticia Gallarzo (gah-YAHR’-zoh) pleaded guilty Thursday in Victoria to five counts of making false statements related to health care. Investigators say the 42-year-old former Goliad (GOH’-lee-ad) resident remains in custody pending sentencing.

Prosecutors say Gallarzo was hired as a registered nurse at two hospitals and three nursing homes in five Texas cities over seven months. Officials say Gallarzo would leave and immediately seek work at a medical facility in another city when her bosses discovered the deception

A U.S. Attorney’s Office spokeswoman says Gallarzo worked at hospitals in Victoria, Palacios (puh-LA’-shuhs) and Yoakum and at nursing homes in Goliad and Yorktown.

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This story corrects the spelling of the woman’s last name to Gallarzo, not Garza, and that two facilities where she worked were nursing homes, not hospitals.