Aug. 6 (UPI) -- A 29-year-old woman is accused of posing as a nurse, including treating 4,486 hospital patients without a license, the Flagler County Sheriff's Office in northeast Florida said Wednesday.

Autumn Bardisa, of Palm Coast, was arrested on Tuesday after illegally providing care at AdventHealth Palm Coast Parkway in Palm Coast from July 2023 until she was fired on Jan. 22, the sheriff's office said.

"This is one of the most disturbing cases of medical fraud we've ever investigated," Sheriff Rick Staly said in a statement on Wednesday. "This woman potentially put thousands of lives at risk by pretending to be someone she was not and violating the trust of patients, their families, AdventHealth and an entire medical community."

He added she can "now be held accountable for her reckless and dangerous actions."

Related Georgetown University researcher settles with feds after arbitrary arrest Police arrest man accused of shooting LA car ramming suspect Feds offer $10K reward for info on alleged Anchorage meth dealer

The agency began investigating Bardisa after hospital administrators reported she was terminated for impersonating a nurse by using that person's license number and submitting false documentation to be employed.

In her application, Bardisa said she was an "education first" registered nurse, meaning she passed the necessary schooling but hadn't yet passed the national licensing exam.

Later, she informed the hospital she had passed the exam, and gave a license number matching an individual with her first name, Autumn, but a different last name. She explained she had recently gotten married and had a new last name.

She never provided her marriage license.

The hospital said Bardisa was hired on July 3, 2023, as an advanced nurse tech under the supervision of a registered nurse.

After she was promoted in January, a fellow employee discovered she had an expired certified nursing assistant license. The employee reported this to administrators.

She was fired on Jan. 22, after not confirming her identity.

AdventHealth contacted the sheriff's office, which investigated with the Florida Department of Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

They determined she had the same first name as the other nurse employed at a different AdventHealth hospital, and they attended school together. They didn't personally know each other.

On Tuesday, detectives issued an arrest warrant for Bardisa on seven counts each of practicing a healthcare profession without a license and fraudulent use of personal identification.

Bardisa was arrested at her residence and taken to the Inmate Detention Facility, where she is being held on a $70,000 bond.

AdventHealth is a nonprofit Seventh-day Adventist healthcare system headquartered in Altamonte Springs, Fla. There are 56 hospitals in nine states, the second-largest system in Florida and 15th in the United States. Also, there are 1,200 care sites.