Becky Nadine Hunter worked as a registered nurse in Alaska from 1998 to 2004, working first as a school nurse with the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District, then for the U.S. Department of Labor. After an investigation by the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, and the U.S. Postal Service, Hunter was arrested, convicted of mail fraud and other crimes, and ordered to serve an eight-year sentence and repay her former employers the more than $18,000.00 she earned as their employee. Hunter and her attorney argued that she shouldn’t have to repay the money because she actually performed the services of a registered nurse.

Where’s the problem? After all, if Ms. Hunter, as a registered nurse, performed the duties of a registered nurse, why should she be forced to repay her employers?

Because Hunter isn’t, and never was, a registered nurse.

Upon moving to Alaska in 1998, Hunter devised more than 20 aliases in order to defraud her employers, creditors, and the federal government. She obtained nursing licenses in Alaska using the personal information of real registered nurses in New York and Canada. Hunter and her attorney argued that she should not be required to repay her former employers because she actually did work as a nurse.

The court ruled that Hunter had to repay her employers because they were the “victims” of her fraud. However, Hunter’s victims could have easily been the hundreds of patients she had direct contact with during her illegal tenure as a medical professional. Her fraud, and her employers’ lack of due diligence when investigating her professional credentials, left numerous individuals and their families open to harm.

As an employer, the only way to guard against cons like Hunter’s is to ensure that you perform a thorough background check of each employee you intend to extend an offer of employment.

Such a background check should include not only calling and verifying previous employers, but also a criminal records check and a credential and professional license verification. Never take a job candidate’s word or accept credentials presented by that individual directly. Always require that professional licenses be verified through the issuing authority.

Although, in this case, Hunter used the identities of real registered nurses to obtain employment, a combined check, including a background screening requiring fingerprints and a professional license verification would have quickly uncovered a suspicious discrepancy. Employers must take care to be as thorough as possible in their employment screening efforts to ensure that they and those they serve are safe.