For more than two years, a staffing company in Kent, Washington, filled nursing shifts at long-term care facilities across the state. The facilities believed they were getting licensed nurses. The licenses were real. The people wearing the badges were not the nurses who held them.
From May 2017 to October 2019, Heritage Medical Staffing, later renamed Pro Med Alliance Medical Staffing, placed unqualified workers under the identities of five real Washington nurses. According to the Washington Attorney General, some of them did not know how to take a blood pressure, and some gave residents the wrong medication.
Every license was real. None of them belonged to the person on shift.
How the scheme worked
The company used the names, license numbers and personal details of five licensed nurses. Fake IDs were made for the workers it sent out. The care homes, in Yakima, Bothell, Redmond, Shoreline, Vashon Island, North Bend and elsewhere, paid for licensed nursing care. The Attorney General's Medicaid fraud division brought the case.
In May 2026, a jury convicted the owner, David Mungai Njenga, on all 11 counts, including leading organized crime and identity theft. It was the first Medicaid fraud trial in Washington history with a leading organized crime charge. In June 2026, he was sentenced to 173 months in prison, followed by 18 months of community custody. The state also won default judgments of $40,500 against each of his two companies. Restitution will be set at a later hearing.
From the first shift to the sentence
- The placements start
Unqualified workers begin taking nursing shifts at long-term care facilities under five real nurses’ identities.
- The scheme ends
More than two years of shifts across Washington, from Yakima to Vashon Island.
- Guilty on all 11 counts
Including leading organized crime, a first in a Washington Medicaid fraud trial.
- 173-month sentence
Plus 18 months of community custody and $40,500 judgments against each of the two companies.
- Restitution hearing
At sentencing in June, the court left restitution for a later hearing.
5real nurses whose licenses were used by people who were not nurses
Three lessons for employers
1. A license lookup checks the license, not the person
State license lookups confirm that a license number is active and belongs to a named nurse. They cannot tell you whether that nurse is the person standing in the hallway. The license check needs an identity check next to it.
2. Staffing agencies and the facilities they serve share the risk
A care home that takes agency staff relies on the agency's screening. Ask agencies what they verify, how they confirm the worker is the license holder, and whether you can see the result for each person sent to you.
3. Real credentials make the best cover
Every name in this case belonged to a real, qualified nurse. That is why it worked for more than two years. Fraud built on real credentials only shows up when someone compares the credential with the person.
