FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – A woman arrested in Flagler County is accused of posing as a nurse for 18 months and seeing more than 4,000 patients before being caught, according to her charging affidavit.
Autumn Bardisa, 29, of Palm Coast, faces seven counts each of unlicensed practice of a health care professional and fraudulent use of personal ID information, records show.
The affidavit states Bardisa assumed a different yet similar name to her own in order to fraudulently obtain employment at AdventHealth. She practiced as a registered nurse (RN) from June 2024 to January 2025 after first being hired in July 2023 “for a position requiring a RN license,” investigators said.
In that time, Bardisa cared for approximately 4,486 patients and even received payment, her affidavit states.
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The affidavit describes how the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Florida Department of Health at certain points were contacted to assist in the investigation.
An unidentified employee came forward to report that Bardisa had sold them prescription medication — semaglutide, better known as Ozempic — and that Bardisa had also allegedly administered a birth control injection to a different unidentified employee, the affidavit states.
It was determined Bardisa had approached the health system stating she was an “education first” RN, meaning she “passed the required schooling to become a (RN) but had not yet passed the national exam to obtain her license,” the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
During the hiring process, Bardisa then informed the hospital that she had passed the exam and provided a license number matching an individual with her first name, Autumn, but with a different last name. Bardisa attempted to explain the discrepancy, stating that she had recently gotten married and had a new last name. Bardisa was then asked to provide her marriage license to AdventHealth, which she never did.
In January 2025, Bardisa was offered a promotion, sparking interest among her colleagues. At that time, a fellow employee checked the status of Bardisa’s license and discovered that she had an expired certified nursing assistant license, which the employee reported to administrators. After opening their own investigation, AdventHealth discovered that Bardisa had never provided her marriage license as requested to confirm her identity.
On January 22, 2025, Bardisa was terminated after she failed to confirm her identity. After terminating Bardisa, AdventHealth contacted the FCSO to conduct a criminal investigation.
Flagler County Sheriff’s Office (excerpt)
Investigators eventually made contact with the AdventHealth nurse Bardisa is accused of impersonating. The woman said that while she and Bardisa went to the same college at the same time, she did not know Bardisa and did not give anyone permission to use her name or licensing information, the affidavit states.
Advent Health failed to immediately identify that Autumn had never uploaded the marriage license and did not require documentation on why the licensing dates did not match between Autumn Bardisa and (the other Autumn). Due to Autumn Bardisa’s fraudulent use of another person’s identification information, and Advent Health’s oversight on the discrepancies, Autumn was allowed to start the Nurse Residency Program where she graduated on Thursday, June 20, 2024, and accepted a position as a Registered Nurse at Advent Health.
Flagler County Sheriff's Office: Autumn Bardisa's charging affidavit (excerpt)
Bardisa was arrested Tuesday and is being held on $70,000 bond, records show.
Anyone who believes they may be a victim of Bardisa should contact the FCSO by email at fakenursecase@flaglersheriff.com for more information.