Woman Pleads Guilty to Posing as Nurse, Treating Students

Salem Superior Court (Courtesy photograph.)

Salem Superior Court.

A Haverhill woman, prosecutors claimed lied to obtain a job as a school nurse in a Haverhill school, pleaded guilty today in Salem Superior Court to child endangerment, neglect and fraud charges.

Lisa Haney Bilodeau, 40, pleaded guilty to two counts of reckless endangerment of a child, two counts of permitting injury to a disabled person, forgery of a document, uttering a false writing, identity fraud and false claim to hold a school degree.

Judge David Lowy adopted the jointly recommended sentence of two and half years in jail with 60 days to be actually served and the balanced suspended for three years. While she is on probation, she must seek and obtain the court’s permission before getting a job in the medical field.

Essex County Assistant District Attorney Ashlee Logan told the court that in August, 2013, Bilodeau applied and interviewed for a nursing position in Haverhill Public Schools. During the interview and on a job application, she said that she obtained an associate’s degree in nursing from Northern Essex Community College. During a routine audit in May, 2014, Haverhill School officials realized that they did not have a copy of her nursing license. School officials asked her to provide them with a copy while also conducting an online search of nursing licenses. When Bilodeau produced a copy of her license, the school administrator immediately recognized it as forged, the prosecutor continued, and Bilodeau was placed on leave.

Logan also said that while Bilodeau was employed as a nurse at Dr. Paul Nettle Middle School, she was assigned to care for two children with special needs. One of the children, a girl with Downs Syndrome and diabetes, required medical attention due to Bilodeau’s improper administration of her daily insulin shots. The other child, a boy with cerebral palsy and non-verbal, requires narcotics to control seizures. The boy’s family reported repeated infections in the area of the boy’s feeding tube and expressed concern the woman was not licensed or trained to administer the narcotics.

Bilodeau was represented by Haverhill attorney Scott Gleason. Essex Victim Advocate Kathy Draper assisted with the case.