Ont. woman pleads guilty after assuming identity of a nurse to work in LTC homes

Ontario woman Hailey Roberts pleads guilty to posing as a nurse to work in long-term care homes.

A Tiny Township, Ont. woman accused of assuming the identity of a nurse to fraudulently work in long-term care homes in Midland, Elmvale and Stayner during the pandemic has pleaded guilty.

Hailey Roberts, 33, was convicted of nine fraud and assault counts, including using forged documents, fraud under false pretenses, impersonation for financial gain, and assaulting seniors when she used needles to administer medicine and vaccines to 58 patients in seniors’ homes.

Roberts left her lawyer Mitch Eisen’s Barrie office barefoot and in no mood to talk Wednesday morning before being driven away by a loved one.

Roberts admitted to forging documents and assault when she pretended to be a qualified nurse by stealing the identity of another woman to illegally work in long-term care homes for about four years starting in 2020.

The court heard Roberts assumed the identity of a nurse with a similar name and told prospective employers she was using the name to escape a dangerous former partner. Roberts told employers she was certified to work in long-term care homes as a nurse and upgraded her certification from a Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) to Registered Nurse (RN) status.

Roberts admitted to forging vulnerable sector checks she claimed were from York Regional police and lied about her qualifications. In some cases, the facilities caught on immediately and fired her.

In all, the court heard, Roberts worked in six homes over four years and fraudulently made more than $118,000.

The court heard Roberts had an existing warrant out for her arrest in Barrie for stealing another person’s identity. That woman was unsuspecting coworker and friend Maddie Teixeira.

“Terrifying to work beside somebody that wasn’t a nurse,” Teixeira said outside the courthouse following the guilty plea by her former friend. “It’s crazy that she got away with it for so long.”

“How is anybody supposed to trust our health care system when people like that slip through the cracks?” said former longtime friend Rachel Moore.

Those who knew her said Roberts faked having brain cancer and at least two men told CTV News Roberts pretended to be pregnant and forged their signatures before stealing thousands of dollars from their bank accounts.

A former Barrie landlord came forward saying Roberts moved into her rental property and illegally squatted in the home for a year starting in 2019. The Landlord Tenant Board and Small Claims Court ruled in the landlord’s favour, awarding her about $62,000. She said Roberts hasn’t paid her a penny.

Roberts’ victims hope justice is finally served and she pays for her crimes.

“She needs to actually get in trouble for this for once,” said Moore. “She has never gotten in trouble. She has talked her way out of everything and enough is enough.”

Roberts’ matter returns to a virtual Collingwood courtroom in August to set a date for her sentencing hearing.

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