On December 12, 2019, Misty Dawn Bacon, 44, of Morristown, entered a guilty plea to one count of wire fraud, one count of healthcare fraud, and one count of identity theft. Bacon faces up to 45 years in federal prison, fines of up to $750,000, and restitution that could exceed $750,000. As part of the written plea agreement, Bacon, a convicted felon, admitted to providing fraudulent information on job applications, with the intent to deceive prospective employers by using the registered nurse license numbers of others to gain employment. Bacon posed as a registered nurse, despite having neither a nursing degree nor nursing license from the Tennessee Department of Health and no nursing experience. Through this fraudulent scheme, Bacon was hired by at least eight healthcare providers between September 2012 and November 2018. Over the six-year period, Bacon worked in a variety of medical settings, including nursing homes, rehabilitation and assisted living facilities, a doctor’s office, and home health agencies. While posing as a nurse, Bacon had access and rendered medical care to numerous patients, dispensing medications, obtaining invasive access to patient’s bodies, and gaining access to patients’ sensitive and private medical information. Additionally, as a purported registered nurse, Bacon made numerous false entries in patients’ medical records and submitted false claims to public and private healthcare benefit programs. Two of her employers, voluntarily repaid healthcare benefit programs a combined sum of over $500,000 for claims submitted upon learning of Bacon’s imposter status.
