Fake Nurse, 29, Who Treated Thousands of Patients Without a License at Florida Hospital Accepts Plea Deal
A Florida woman who stole someone else's nursing license agreed to a plea deal.
April 10 2026, Published 1:20 p.m. ET
A woman who claimed to be a registered nurse in Florida and "treated" more than 4,000 patients without a license has been sentenced to probation and community service as part of a plea deal, RadarOnline.com can report.
Autumn Bardisa, 29, must also serve 50 hours of community service and write an apology letter to the nurse whose license number she stole.
Autumn Bardisa WAs Arrested After a Seven-Month Investigation
Autumn Bardisa treated over 4,000 patients before she was caught.
Bardisa pleaded no contest to unlicensed practice of health care and fraudulent use of an I.D. in exchange for a 5-year probation term.
She was arrested in August 2025 after a seven-month investigation into her "job" at AdventHealth Palm Coast Parkway as an advanced nurse tech in July 2023.
Authorities said she treated more than 4,486 patients between June 2024 and January 2025, while falsely presenting herself as a licensed nurse.
When she was first hired, Bardisa gave her bosses the license number of another woman and said the license had a different last name because she had gotten married.
She was supposed to provide the hospital with her marriage license, but never did.
'Incredibly Poor Judgement'
She was confronted by deputies after returning home from work.
Then, in January 2025, Bardisa received a promotion, but when another employee checked her background, they discovered that Bardisa had an expired certified nursing assistant license.
The employee reported her discovery to administrators, who contacted authorities. Ironically, Bardisa did graduate from nursing school and was said to excel at her job. But when she failed the licensing exam, she launched her plot.
"Incredibly poor judgment," Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols said at a hearing. "Her actions were wrong. She will pay for those actions severely."
Nichols seemingly praised Bardisa, a single mother who worked through nursing school, which she said was "very difficult." The judge also said Bardisa was so good at her job, she made co-workers jealous – to the point that one of them did some digging and found out she did not have a nursing license.
Sheriff Scolds the Scheme
A judge seemed to praise her for wanting to help.
But her intentions meant little to Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly, who said in a statement: "Nursing is a noble profession about caring for those in need, but there is a right way and wrong way to go about it, and she chose the wrong way by using a real nurse's license.
"Because she chose to circumvent the rules, she ruined her career, and she potentially endangered patients."
Staly added that Bardisa won't be able to work in the medical field for a minimum of three years and up to five years.
"I commend our detectives that worked hard to build the case to expose her crimes and impersonation," he concluded. "We did our job by successfully investigating this case."
'I Made a Mistake'
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Bardisa will not be allowed to practice in Florida again.
Outside of court, Bardisa said there was "a lot more to the story," but declined to elaborate.
"I'm just glad it ended up the way it did, and that my daughter wasn’t harmed at all or didn’t have to face any of the backlash," she elaborated.
Bardisa said she would not return to nursing in another state because she felt there would be a target on her back. She said she had enrolled in a master's program but declined to provide details.
"I think a mistake shouldn't ruin someone's life," she said.
