A woman has been arrested for allegedly impersonating a registered nurse and overseeing the care of about 60 patients at a Burbank hospital, authorities said.
Burbank police detectives say it wasn’t the first time Amanda Leeann Porter, 44, of Virginia, pretended to be a nurse.
Before the incident at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, Porter posted bail and was released from the custody of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department on suspicion of committing a similar crime at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Santa Clarita, according to the Burbank Police Department.
Burbank police detectives said they discovered during their investigation that Porter had obtained employment at various area hospitals using a variety of identities.
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office filed charges of identity theft, impersonation and grand theft against Porter, according to Burbank police.
He appeared in court Wednesday and is being held at the LA County Central Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood — this time without bail, detectives said.
Porter worked at Providence Saint Joseph from April 8 to May 8, during which time he received two paychecks, detectives said. Hospital staff contacted the Police Department in May after discovering Porter was posing as a real-life registered nurse living out of state, detectives said.
Porter is also on federal probation for fraud violations in Virginia, detectives said.
In 2017, a woman named Amanda Porter-Eley pleaded guilty to posing as a nurse and committing bank fraud in Virginia, according to the US Department of Justice.
The Burbank Police Department would not confirm that Amanda Leeann Porter and Amanda Porter-Eley are the same person, citing the ongoing investigation. However, their ages match, and in earlier court papers Amanda Porter-Eley’s name is also listed as Amanda L. Porter.
Porter-Eley was found guilty of impersonating a registered nurse in Virginia and working for six months as a nurse manager without the required licenses, according to the US Department of Justice. At the time, the pretend nurse was living out of state in New York, prosecutors said.
Beginning in September 2015, Porter-Eley used the stolen nurse’s identity to open multiple bank accounts and obtain more than $450,000 in cash, loans, goods and services, including at least three cars and one property, according to the Justice Department. He continued to use false identities until he was arrested in 2016 and caused more than $120,000 in losses to banks and retailers.
Porter-Eley also pleaded guilty to opening bank accounts using other people’s Social Security numbers, thereby obtaining nearly $50,000 in bad checks, according to the Justice Department.
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