A woman in Florida was taken into custody on Tuesday for impersonating a nurse and attending to almost 4,500 patients without having a legitimate nursing license, as reported by Flagler County authorities.

Autumn Marie Bardisa, 29, faces 14 felony charges related to practicing medicine illegally and misusing someone else’s identification, according to court documents.

She was also accused of selling Ozempic to one hospital employee and giving a birth control injection to another, according to a police affidavit.

Bardisa was employed as an advanced nurse technician at AdventHealth Palm Coast Parkway in Palm Coast for approximately seven months. Her supervisors grew doubtful of her credentials and terminated her employment, according to a police statement.

‘This is one of the most disturbing cases of medical fraud we’ve ever investigated, said Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly. ‘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.’

The hospital hired Bardisa on July 3, 2023, after she represented herself as an ‘education first’ registered nurse.

Bardisa was essentially saying that she had gotten through nursing school with a passing grade but hadn’t passed the national exam needed to obtain a license.

During the months-long hiring process, she lied and told the human resource specialist responsible for onboarding her that she had passed the exam on October 17, 2023, according the affidavit.

She then provided a registered nurse number ‘matching an individual with her first name, Autumn, but with a different last name,’ police said.

She allegedly stole the RN number of another nurse who shared her first name and worked at a different AdventHealth hospital, the affidavit stated.

Bardisa explained the name discrepancy away by saying she had recently gotten married and changed her name, according to police. 

Bardisa was supposed to upload her marriage license to a company database but never did, police said.

Despite that, she was allowed to start a nurse residency program at the hospital, which she graduated on June 20, 2024. That was when she was able to start treating patients.

Shortly after Bardisa was offered a promotion in January 2025, an employee did a background check on her and found that she had an expired certified nursing assistant license, according to police.

‘This prompted Advent Health to start an inquiry which led to asking Autumn Bardisa for her pre-requested marriage license to confirm her licensed identity. Autumn gave several excuses and ultimately could not provide the documentation,’ according to the affidavit.

This led to her getting fired on January 22, which also started the ball rolling on a criminal investigation thanks to her fellow employees coming forward to the authorities.

Throughout the course of the investigation, detectives interviewed the nurse whose identity was allegedly stolen by Bardisa.

That nurse, also named Autumn, told police she attended the same college as Bardisa but didn’t know her personally.

This Autumn also revealed that she was married and had recently undergone a name change to the name Bardisa used while working at the hospital. 

The chief nursing officer at the hospital, Kristen Sutton, was also interviewed by police about two months after Bardisa was fired.

Sutton accused Bardisa of selling Semaglutide, more commonly known as Ozempic, to another employee and administering a birth control injection to a different staff member.

It’s unclear if more charges will come as a result of these allegations.

Bardisa treated approximately 4,486 patients from June 2024 through January 2025, according to the affidavit.

On Tuesday, the Flagler County Fugitive Unit arrived at Bardisa’s home and arrested her without incident.

She was then taken to Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility, where she is being held on a $70,000 bond. She is scheduled to be arraigned on September 2.