How two South Jersey men are tied to phony nursing diploma case
MIAMI – Two Burlington Township men are accused of taking part in a scheme to sell phony diplomas to people seeking employment as nurses.
Here's what we know about their alleged roles:
Stanton Witherspoon, 48, and Alfred Sellu, 43, allegedly conspired with an administrator at a Florida nursing school to sell thousands of fraudulent credentials to nursing-job applicants, federal authorities say.
Charging documents allege Witherspoon and Sellu recruited people seeking jobs as a registered nurse, licensed practical nurse or vocational nurse.
How did the nursing license scheme work?
They arranged with the manager of Siena College of Health, a state-licensed school in Broward County, to create fraudulent diplomas and transcripts, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
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“In fact, the aspiring nurses never completed the necessary courses and clinicals,” the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.
The fraudulent diplomas were used to obtain licenses in various states and to land jobs with unwitting health care providers, according to the statement.
What does it take to get a nursing license?
Nursing students can expect to pay from $10,000 to $40,000 for an associate's degree and "as high as over $80,000 and even sometimes $100,000 for longer or grad school programs," according to Nurse.Org, an online resource for people seeking to enter the profession.
Also, students typically must meet entrance requirements for programs that usually last two to four years.
Witherspoon and Sellu are among 25 people charged in connection with alleged diploma frauds at Siena and two other nursing schools in Florida.
The overall scheme involved the distribution of more than 7,600 fake nursing diplomas,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
All three schools are now closed.
The statement did not give a selling price for fake diplomas, but a charging paper for Siena's manager, Eunide Sanon of Broward County, seeks forfeiture of almost $1.3 million.
What are the charges against Witherspoon and Sellu?
According to an indictment, Witherspoon was the founder and president of the Nursing Education Resource Center in Newport, Delaware.
The center’s website says its mission is “to assist in providing a seamless route to nursing education.”
The indictment says Witherspoon became a 50 percent owner of Siena College of Health and its parent company in November 2018.
The diploma fraud alleged continued through October 2021, the indictment says.
Witherspoon and Sellu, who was a NERC employee, could not be reached for comment.
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They are charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Sanon is charged with wire fraud.
The charges are only allegations. No one has been convicted in the case.
Siena College of Health had "absolutely no relation or connection" to Siena College in New York, according to a spokesperson for the private Catholic institution.
Jim Walsh is a senior reporter at the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal.
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Burlington Township NJ men accused of aiding nursing diploma fraud
