A Florida woman who fraudulently posed as a nurse and treated nearly 4,500 patients without a license escaped going to jail, according to multiple reports.
Autumn Bardisa of Palm Coast was arrested by the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office in August 2025 for posing as a nurse and treating over 4,400 patients without a license.
‘This is one of the most disturbing cases of medical fraud we’ve ever investigated.’
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that the 29-year-old pleaded no contest last week to unlicensed practice of health care and fraudulent use of identification.
A seven-month investigation originally led to 14 charges against Bardisa: seven counts of unlicensed health care practice and seven counts of fraudulent use of personal identification.
However, Bardisa will not face jail time.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported that Bardisa was sentenced to 60 months of probation, which can be terminated after 30 months.
Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols withheld adjudication, which means Bardisa will not be a convicted felon unless she violates the terms of her probation, according to the News-Journal.
Bardisa also was sentenced to 50 hours of community service.
WTVJ-TV reported that Bardisa is prohibited from practicing medicine during her probation.
Bardisa is required to send an apology letter to the nurse whose license number she stole.
“Incredibly poor judgment. Her actions were wrong,” Judge Nichols said, according to the News-Journal. “She will pay for those actions severely.”
The victim of the identity theft said during the hearing that Bardisa “chose to put countless lives on the line.”
However, the judge interrupted the victim and ordered her to “stop the personal attacks.”
Judge Nichols proclaimed, “There is absolutely zero evidence that countless lives were on the line. Zero evidence. As a matter of fact, the information that has been presented is that she was excellent in her job, and she excelled at her job.”
The News-Journal reported that Josh Davis, Bardisa’s defense attorney, said he was able to convince prosecutors to waive the one-year minimum mandatory sentence for practicing nursing without a license.
Davis argued, “The reason that we are in the courthouse is because she was really good at her job, and she makes people jealous.”
“Some co-workers go back and do the digging, and that’s the reason we are here,” Davis claimed.
According to the News-Journal, Bardisa maintained that there is “a lot more to the story” but did not offer further specifics.
“I’m just glad it ended up the way it did,” Bardisa stated. “And my daughter wasn’t harmed at all or didn’t have to face any of the backlash.”
Bardisa added, “I think a mistake shouldn’t ruin someone’s life.”
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said in an August statement that Bardisa was hired July 3, 2023, as an advanced nurse tech at AdventHealth Palm Coast Parkway and was working under the supervision of a registered nurse.
Investigators said Bardisa applied for the position as an “education first” registered nurse — a designation for those who have completed their nursing program but have not yet passed the national licensing exam.
Police stated, “During the hiring process, Bardisa then informed the hospital that she had passed the exam and provided a license number matching an individual with her first name, Autumn, but with a different last name.”
Bardisa initially brushed off the discrepancy by claiming a recent name change due to marriage.
However, investigators said Bardisa never provided a marriage license to AdventHealth.
In January 2025, Bardisa was offered a promotion.
During the promotion process, a fellow employee checked the status of Bardisa’s license and discovered that she had an expired certified nursing assistant license, which was then reported to health care administrators, according to police.
Authorities said AdventHealth administrators launched an internal investigation, which revealed Bardisa never verified her identity or her supposed name change.
On January 22, 2025, AdventHealth terminated Bardisa after she failed to confirm her identity, the press release said.
Following her firing, AdventHealth alerted the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
FCSO detectives, as well as investigators with the Florida Department of Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “reviewed documents and conducted interviews with AdventHealth employees” and determined that Bardisa stole the identity of another nurse, police said.
“The investigation determined that Bardisa shared a first name with the other nurse, who was employed by AdventHealth, but at a different hospital, and had attended school with her,” the sheriff’s office declared.
Police said Bardisa participated in medical services administered to 4,486 people from June 2024 to January 2025, despite never possessing the required nursing license.
Bardisa was arrested on August 5, 2025.
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly proclaimed, “This is one of the most disturbing cases of medical fraud we’ve ever investigated.”
“This woman potentially put thousands of lives at risk by pretending to be someone she was not and violating the trust of patients, their families, AdventHealth, and an entire medical community,” Staly said.
Sheriff Staly added, “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 said.
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Autumn bardisa, Crime, Florida, Fraud, Health care, Health care fraud, No contest, Nurse, Nurse arrested, Plea deal, Probation
