Nevada woman arrested after working as a nurse for a decade under a false identity

A Nevada woman has been arrested after she impersonated a Registered Nurse, as well as performing medical duties until she was caught.

For over a decade, Mary Ann Southard was performing RN duties, thanks to a string of identity theft and false documents that allowed her to work in her position.

That is, until the Las Vegas Police got involved.

“Since 2009, Southard has pretended to be a registered nurse and worked as a purported registered nurse in diverse medical settings in Nevada and South Carolina,” a Las Vegas police detective wrote in an arrest report obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “These medical providers include surgery centers, emergency rooms, doctor’s office, and hospitals.”

According to the report, Southard was given the same trust and confidence as real nurses- including access to information.

“While posing as a nurse, she has assessed patients, performed medical treatments, and administered controlled substances, among other tasks. Once hired, Southard received professional access to patients, administered invasive physical care and medications, and received access to patients’ sensitive, private and confidential medical records.”

The Nevada Board of Nursing discovered the discrepancies in Southard’s “records,” and enlisted the aid of law enforcement.

Ultimately, the police determined that many of Southard’s credentials were either fake or stolen.

Southard was booked at the Clark County Detention Center on Wednesday and has been charged with three counts of acting as a nurse without a license resulting in substantial bodily harm, obtaining and using personal identity information of another to cause harm, and two counts of theft greater than $3,500.

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