SPRINGDALE, Ark. — A Northwest Arkansas woman has been arrested after allegedly using someone else's information to get local healthcare jobs despite not having a license or obtaining a medical degree.
Alicia Flanagan, 55, of Bella Vista, was booked into the Washington County Jail on Thursday, April 25, 2024. According to online records, she is facing two counts of practicing medicine without a license and two counts of nonfinancial identity fraud.
Nonfinancial identity fraud is a Class D felony, while practicing medicine without a license is a Class A misdemeanor.
Court documents show that the warrant for Flanagan's arrest was first issued on Nov. 13, 2023. She was booked on Thursday at 10:40 a.m. She was released on a $10,000 bond at 12:19 p.m.
An affidavit says that on June 6, 2023, the Director of Nurses for Springdale Health and Rehab called the Springdale Police Department (SPD) to report that a former employee, Flanagan, had been practicing medicine without a license.
The director got a call from the Arkansas State Board of Nursing and was informed that Flanagan had been fraudulently using the credentials of Alicia Pierce, a nurse from Virginia, in order to get nursing jobs.
Flanagan was employed at Springdale Health and Rehab under Pierce's credentials from Sept. 6, 2022, to Jan. 1, 2023, according to court documents.
The State Board of Nursing was made aware of this when Flanagan applied for and started working at North Hills on May 4, 2023, using false credentials, the affidavit said. The nursing board then contacted Pierce, who reportedly had no idea her information was being used.
Court documents note that Flanagan does not have a nursing license, and that while she did briefly go to college, she does not have a degree or certification.
Flanagan admitted to working at Springdale Health and Rehab and not having a nursing license during an interview with detectives, the affidavit says.
Arkansas State Board of Nursing records show that Flanagan was issued a cease and desist on Nov. 30, 2023, for being an unlicensed practitioner.
5NEWS reached out to Springdale Health and Rehab and got the following response from spokesperson Joe Perkins:
“The lady in question worked for us for a relatively short period of time, and we discovered that her license was fraudulent. We reported the fraudulent license to the authorities, of course, and when we discovered that [fraud], we terminated the relationship with the lady. That was, I think, more than a year ago.”
When asked how these kinds of things happen, Perkins said:
“This person just had the appropriate credentials to create a fraud for a short period of time. Once again, we’re the ones that discovered the fraud.”
Flanagan's next court date is scheduled for May 13.
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