Fake 'nurse of the year' gets 9 months

NORWALK, Conn., Dec. 29 (UPI) -- A Connecticut woman who posed as a nurse and staged an awards dinner for herself has been sentenced to nine months in jail.

Betty Lichtenstein, 57, of Danbury was sentenced Tuesday for practicing nursing without a license, criminal impersonation and second-degree forgery, The Hartford (Conn.) Courant reported.

Lichtenstein worked in a Norwalk doctor's office giving injections, writing prescriptions and dispensing medical advice, police said.

She aroused suspicion when a patient complained of unprofessional conduct. An investigation revealed not only that she wasn't a nurse, but she had staged an awards dinner in August 2009 where a bogus nursing organization honored her as "nurse of the year." She then became known as "Nurse Betty."

Investigators found that she had paid for the dinner herself and fooled her employer, Dr. Gerald Weiss, into speaking at there.

Lichtenstein, also known as Betty Trudel and Betty Ann St. John, was also arrested by Norwalk police on charges of using prescription forms stolen from Weiss to try to buy painkillers.

Lichtenstein was fined $2,000 and will serve three years of probation after her release.