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Deputies: Woman pretending to be nurse has been in trouble before

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — A woman accused of posing as a nurse and treating patients has been in trouble before.

Lake County sheriff's detectives said Rebecca Ann Bilby duped a home health care facility into believing she was a licensed nurse in May.

They said she visited several patients before her employer found out the truth.

Before that, according to the Citrus County Sheriff's Office, she was arrested in December for scheming to defraud and criminal use of personal information.

Months later, detectives arrested her again for running an unlicensed assisted living facility.

She posted a $2,000 bond and was free.

When Bibly went to a Lake County home health care facility to become an office manager in May, investigators said she apparently had bigger goals in mind.

"While interviewing for that job, she produced paperwork and documentation showing a licensed practical nurse," Capt. Todd Luce of the Lake County Sheriff's Office said.

With her new job came a huge responsibility: home visits.

Investigators claim Bilby hit the road to help patients.

"The documentation we have right now shows she actually practiced as a nurse in the field on seven different occasions," Luce said.

Bilby was fired just weeks in, after an audit by the Florida Department of Health and detective work by the Lake County Sheriff's Office uncovered shocking information: Bilby wasn't licensed to practice in Florida, and she allegedly made her own license.

"She actually placed her name on it but she used another registered nurse's license number for the state," Luce said.

That nurse works at Saint Petersburg General Hospital. Her name: Rebecca Ann, almost identical to Rebecca Ann Bilby.

Eyewitness News stopped by the facility where Bilby worked late Thursday, but no one there wanted to talk.

Lake County sheriff's investigators said they are working diligently to track down anyone in the community who may have been treated by Bilby.

"That's a heinous crime and we need to jump on it and make sure there are stiff penalties in place for that," Luce said.

Luce said there could be additional victims.