ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – On her Facebook page, Elizabeth McCarthy makes it clear she is running for a seat in the Florida House of Representatives, District 28. What isn't clear is her profession or education.
McCarthy wrote on her LinkedIn page that she has a bachelor's degree in criminology from Florida State University, and had a basketball scholarship for two years, but it appears that's false.
News 6 checked and McCarthy did not attend the school or participate in sports, according to a spokesperson who wrote in an email, "we have no verification that she participated as a student athlete."
In a photo from her Facebook page, McCarthy is seen in a white lab coat, but her claims of being an emergency room doctor are unraveling.
A Florida Department of Health official confirmed that "Catherine Elizabeth McCarthy has never been issued a license by the Florida Department of Health."
McCarthy applied for a license to be a certified nursing assistant in 2005, but the application was never completed.
Yet McCarthy was introduced as an emergency room doctor by Rep. Darren Soto at a town hall meeting in March. She told the crowd she operated on victims the night of the Pulse attack
"That night of Pulse, I personally removed 77 bullets from 32 people," McCarthy said to the crowd while standing at a podium.
District 49 Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith is among many now calling on McCarthy to bow out of the election.
"Elizabeth must withdraw from her campaign, work on making herself better and strive towards making amends with the people and the community she misled," Guillermo-Smith wrote in a message to News 6.
News 6 tried to contact McCarthy several times, but did not get a return call.