A family in Florida has been searching for answers after learning that the caretaker for their loved one, who said he was a licensed practical nurse (LPN), was an impostor who reportedly neglected to offer vital care in the final hours of the veteran’s life.
It is a felony to pose as a nurse in Florida or to hire unlicensed individuals to practice nursing intentionally. Although there is an ongoing investigation, no one has been arrested, according to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office.
In October 2024, retired U.S. Marine Gunnery Sgt. Kensworth Moody passed away at his home on Fleming Island while being cared for by a man who misrepresented himself as an LPN. Moody had a tracheotomy and needed round-the-clock care.
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The veteran’s family now wonders if this fake nurse was in other families’ homes, caring for patients who are still unaware he is not who he claims to be.
Sandra Moody, the veteran’s wife, told WLTX, “I need that this never happens to any veteran. If I wasn’t a nurse and we weren’t smart enough to look at this or that then we would have gone and said, oh, his health failed.”
According to state documents, home surveillance footage showed that the impersonator did nothing when Moody began to exhibit symptoms of respiratory distress.
On the morning of October 13, 2024, Kendra Moody, Moody’s daughter, said she woke up to loud music blaring from her father’s room.
Kendra Moody said, “I looked at the camera in his room before I came down here and I saw the nurse. He was looking at his pulse ox machine just with a confused look on his face. When I got down here, I touched my dad, and he was freezing cold.”
According to her, she later watched surveillance footage that confirmed her father had been unconscious and started experiencing breathing difficulties two hours earlier.
“He was gasping for air, and you can hear the pulse ox machine alarming and going off,” Kendra Moody recounted. “And then after that, you don’t hear it go off anymore, and you don’t see his chest rise or fall, and he just was unresponsive.”
The man who pretended to be a nurse, according to her, never dialed 911. So she did. It was already too late when paramedics came. Her dad was declared dead.
“For you to walk into a house and pretend that you’re a nurse to take care of somebody who’s sick. What do you expect to happen?” Kendra Moody said.
The veteran’s wife, Sandra Moody, a certified nurse, said the man who was hired to give nursing care had visited her home over a dozen times and was employed by a Jacksonville BrightStar Care franchise.
After her husband’s passing, she realized the “nurse” wasn’t who he said he was.
“I knew because how he responded in the room,” Sandra Moody said. “Something came over me that he was not a nurse. So, after everything and my husband was taken out of the home, I started to look him up on Facebook. He didn’t show up on Facebook. His name showed up with another person’s face on Facebook. I felt invaded when I found out.”
The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) released a 60-page report that included a text message the nurse impostor sent to Sandra Moody hours after her husband died.
He wrote, “I’m sorry, Ms. Moody. I just wanted to show you I was capable…I let you down. I failed Mr. Moody and nothing I can do can bring him back. I just want to tell you I’m sorry I failed you.”
According to records, the nurse impostor was using the name of a licensed practical nurse, Darez Whigham, and he had two current patients.
WLTX found the actual nurse whose name he was using.
Whigham commented, “It was actually quite shocking. It’s scary for me as, you know, as a nurse and probably for other nurses too.”
Whigham explained that he temporarily worked at BrightStar Care before discovering from detectives that someone was impersonating him. He stated that authorities revealed that the impostor might have obtained his identity and personal details from an old file while he was employed there.
AHCA issued an emergency suspension order for the independently owned and run franchise Brightstar Care of East Jacksonville/Neptune Beach eleven days after the veteran’s death.
According to the order, when Moody’s glucose levels plummeted, the pretending nurse turned off the oxygen saturation monitor warnings and gave him “sugar water.” Moody’s oxygen levels dropped to 36%, which is much lower than the typical range of 94–100%, the report added.
AHCA’s investigation identified several kinds of problems at the BrightStar franchise. The emergency suspension order stated that the director of nursing was being charged with a crime connected to a Jacksonville shooting, and the customer coordinator had an arrest warrant for fraud.
Additionally, according to the order, the home health agency booked and treated a critically sick patient through an unlicensed and unqualified person who misrepresented his identity, billed for services that were never rendered and put the “health, safety, and welfare of the patient at immediate risk.”
A representative for Brightstar Corporate said client safety and wellbeing are the company’s top priorities.
“We are aware of an investigation regarding an independently owned and operated franchisee in Jacksonville, FL and are working in cooperation with the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) and other relevant authorities regarding this franchised location. We have already exercised our right to terminate the local franchisee’s franchise agreement, and it is no longer a part of the BrightStar Care system,” the company said in a statement.
Sandra Moody said she was introduced to BrightStar by Veterans Affairs (VA).
A VA spokesperson said payments to the home health company were authorized through the VA. Though VA declined an interview, it said the franchise that operated that location is no longer a part of the VA’s community care network.
Jason Dangel, the deputy manager of the Office of Communication and Stakeholder Relations, wrote, “VA does not provide recommendations for home health agencies. We use an online system to identify in-network providers located near the Veteran and ask if the Veteran has any specific preferences. BrightStar was removed from the VA’s community care network on October 31, 2024, after the department was notified that the state of Florida had suspended the organization’s license to operate.”
Meanwhile, the family has no idea why no one has been arrested.
“I just want justice for my husband’s death because I know he depended on me to be his voice and I felt like I was robbed of that,” Sandra Moody said.
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