Nurse imposter sentenced to seven years

A Canadian woman who posed as a nurse and delivered care to hundreds of patients in British Columbia has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

Brigitte Cleroux pleaded guilty in July to assaulting patients by IV injection while pretending to be a nurse.

It is not the first time Cleroux worked as a nurse without medical qualifications.

Tuesday's sentencing marks the end of decades for her in the court system - often as a serial imposter - where she has been convicted of fraud and other related crimes across Canada and in the US.

The sentencing hearing, which began on Monday, heard from former patients, some of whom described how learning of the fraud undermined their faith in the health system.

Cleroux, now in her early 50s, went by multiple aliases including Brigitte Marier, Brigitte Fournier, Melanie Cleroux, Melanie Gauthier, Melanie Thompson and Melanie Smith, according to the College of Nurses of Ontario.

In June 2020, she got a job using a false name and fake resume and references as a nurse at the BC Women's Hospital. She worked there until June 2021, when she was placed on leave following complaints.

She was involved in caring - directly and indirectly - for hundreds of patients who attended the centre for gynaecological surgical procedures, according to court documents.

The Provincial Health Services Authority is facing a class-action lawsuit from some of those patients. The PHSA is not commenting on the matter as it is before the courts.

Cleroux also briefly worked at the View Royal Surgical Centre in Victoria, BC.

Her record of posing as a nurse goes back at least to 2011, in Alberta, according to court documents.

She also presented herself as legitimate in Ottawa in 2017 and in 2021 used fake nursing credentials, a forged resume and a false name to get jobs at two medical clinics there, where she administered needles and injected medication.

One was a fertility clinic where she treated eight patients - a job she quit abruptly when a nurse confronted her about the way she was administering care.

Police began investigating Cleroux when the colleague tried to file a complaint with the nurse's college, which flagged Cleroux's false identity.

She found another job at a dental office but was arrested shortly after.

Cleroux has already been convicted and sentenced for her dangerous ruse, with an Ontario court in 2022 giving her seven years behind bars after she pled guilty to offences including personation, fraud, assault and assault with a weapon.

The sentence she received on Friday will essentially add four years to her time for the Ontario charges.

Altogether, Cleroux has an extensive record of 67 convictions as an adult, including in Florida, mainly for fraud, theft and impersonation.

It is not clear why Cleroux chose to pose as a nurse for at least a decade across North America.

Cleroux is also wanted in the US state of Colorado, for forgery and impersonation, according to an arrest affidavit, in a case dating back to 2001. It's alleged she presented false credentials to work in Colorado Springs as a registered nurse.

She had some training as a nurse, though never completed a degree.