Hailey Roberts Faces 19 Charges for Impersonating a Nurse Across Canada

Hailey Roberts, a 33-year-old from Tiny Township, Ontario, is accused of identity fraud after allegedly posing as a registered nurse for over three years in Simcoe County health care facilities. From September 2020 to April 2024, she allegedly carried out various nursing duties despite lacking any qualifications. Police stated that she requested employment by altering documents to mimic valid credentials of active nurses. Roberts turned herself into Ontario Provincial Police on October 24, 2024. She faces 16 identity theft charges, including five counts of identity fraud, and three counts of assault with a weapon. The gravity of her actions is underscored by her prior guilty plea to assaulting patients with an intravenous needle in British Columbia, where she allegedly treated approximately 1,000 victims. Her potential actions led to severe implications for patient safety and trust in health care. The ongoing situation raises concerns about monitoring and verifying health care practitioners’ qualifications to prevent similar incidents in the future. In this case, Roberts' case is particularly alarming due to her extensive history, with at least 67 criminal convictions already documented. The scrutiny now falls on the health care systems that allowed her to operate undetected for so long, with serious inquiries anticipated regarding the verification processes of practitioners’ credentials in Canada and beyond. This case highlights the urgent need for reforms to ensure the security and reliability of health services.