After posing as an ER nurse at AdventHealth Palm Coast’s two hospitals, 29-year-old Autumn Marie Bardisa, who lives at 7 Pinto Drive in Palm Coast, was arrested on 14 felony charges on Tuesday and is currently being held at the Flagler County jail on $70,000 bail.
Bardisa was employed at the hospitals from July 3, 2023, until her termination on January 22, 2025. The investigation found that she had recorded interaction with 4,486 patients as a nurse throughout her tenure.
After AdventHealth authorities first gave few information, citing privacy restrictions, the arrest came after a thorough investigation by the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office that ultimately involved the federal and state departments of health.
After learning that Bardisa might not have a nursing license, the chief nursing officer at AdventHealth Palm Coast was assigned to undertake an internal inquiry into the matter. In January and March, she brought the claims to the attention of authorities.
According to her arrest report, Bardisa was using the name Autumn Ruba Hood, whose registered nursing certificate she had gotten unlawfully. Additionally, Bardisa is accused of giving birth control injections to another employee and selling prescription medication (Semaglutide, also known as Ozempic) to another employee.
On July 3, 2023, Bardisa began working as an advanced nurse technician under the direction of licensed practical nurses and registered nurses. On her application, she claimed to be an Education First registered nurse, but she had failed a test needed to obtain that license.
Her arrest report stated that obtaining her license was a requirement for work. She told Human Resources in mid-October, presenting what seemed to be a legitimate license number, claiming she had taken the test on August 15, 2023, and that she had passed it. Autumn Hood owned the number. Bardisa informed the hospital that since she claimed to have recently gotten married and given her new name, Autumn Rubba, her license number might not match right away.
She was requested by HR to enter her marriage license into an Advent Health corporate database. According to the investigating report, it was then discovered that the license had never been finished.
According to the investigative report by sheriff’s investigator Adam Barkoskie, Advent Health did not instantly recognize that Autumn had never submitted the marriage license and did not need proof of why the licensing dates between Autumn Bardisa and Autumn Hood did not match. Due to Autumn Bardisa’s fraudulent use of someone else’s identification and Advent Health’s failure to notice the inconsistencies, Autumn was permitted to begin the Nurse Residency Program. On Thursday, June 20, 2024, she graduated and accepted a position at Advent Health as a Registered Nurse.
In early January 2025, Bardisa received a promotion offer to Charge Nurse, which caused her coworkers to inquire. When an anonymous nurse looked up Autumn Bardisa’s license status, she found that her only license was a delinquent Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) license that had expired in May 2024.
According to the investigative report, this caused Advent Health to launch an investigation, which ultimately resulted in requesting Autumn Bardisa’s pre-requested marriage certificate in order to verify her licensed identity. After making a number of excuses, Autumn was finally unable to produce the necessary paperwork and was fired on Wednesday, January 22, 2025.
The genuine Autumn Hood was interrogated by investigators. Hood informed them that she did not directly know Bardisa, but that her own maiden name was Rubba and that she had gone to the same college. Hood was her new name after her recent marriage. Hood also works for AdventHealth, although in a different location in Florida. She informed detectives that the corporation had not told her about the identity theft and that she had not authorized anyone to use her identity.
According to the investigation, a federal agent asked for and received a subpoena from his own legal counsel on the remaining supporting documents that Advent Health had not yet provided. The identities of the patients that Autumn Bardisa treated while working unlawfully for Advent Health as a registered nurse were the last set of documents that Advent Health was required to submit. The corporation produced the paperwork by last Monday, August 4, despite requesting several extensions.
Bardisa is charged with seven charges of fake identification and seven counts of unauthorized health care professional practice. Charges could yet be added by the State Attorney’s Office. Her car was found using investigative methods at 65 Springwood Drive in Palm Coast, where she was taken into custody on Tuesday.
