Betty Lichtenstein, 57, took the ruse so far that she even staged a "Nurse of the Year" awards dinner for herself in 2008.
She went to jail after entering a guilty plea to charges of criminal impersonation, practicing nursing without a license and forgery, the Stamford Advocate reported.
"I know that what I did was very, very wrong," she told State Superior Court Judge Bruce Hudock. "I am so sorry for what I did and I am so sorry if I endangered anyone."
Fake Nurse of the Year
She said she took full responsibility for her deceptive actions and wouldn't repeat them in the future.
Lichtenstein mouthed "I love you" to her emotional daughter Monica, who was sitting in the front of the courtroom in Norwalk as she was led out in handcuffs, the Advocate said.
Lichtenstein went by the aliases Betty A. Trudel and Betty Ann St. John, in addition to using her own name, while she pretended to be a nurse for Dr. Gerald Weiss, according to Connecticut's Division of Criminal Justice.
She was working for Weiss in 2009 when he complained that she'd acted unprofessionally. An investigation by the state Medicaid Fraud Control Unit ensued, and authorities learned she'd been posing as a nurse but wasn't licensed.
She was initially charged with illegally using the title of "registered nurse," criminal impersonation and reckless endangerment. She pleaded guilty to reduced charges in exchange for a lesser sentence of a year behind bars.
Fake Nurse of the Year
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