Linn Creek woman charged, accused of posing as nurse at Osage Beach healthcare facilities

Linn Creek woman charged, accused of posing as nurse at Osage Beach healthcare facilities A Linn Creek woman is facing charges after officials said she got a job as a nurse, despite not having the training. Court documents state that on July 9, 2025, Darcee J. Heath applied for a position as a Graduate Practical Nurse. The documents state that Heath put in her application that she had a Licensed Practical Nurse degree. It also states that she included proof that she had graduated from a program with a signed certificate of completion. On July 21, 2025, she started working at a medical facility in Osage Beach. The name of the facility was blacked out in court documents. Shortly after she started, the documents state that nurses who oversaw Heath’s work told the unit manager that she was incompetent, unable to even do simple healthcare tasks, such as taking vital signs. An investigation led officials at the medical facility to realize her college records were forged. Heath was fired on August 21, 2025. An audit of Heath’s care found that there was no harm to patients when she was working. An investigation by the Missouri Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit found that Heath had started a nursing program in Spring 2022. She had enrolled in three classes but dropped one of the classes and failed the other two. She tried again with two more classes in Spring 2023, but the documents state she failed those, too. The documents state that after Heath was fired in August 2025, she was hired as a licensed practical nurse (LPN) at a senior-living community in Lake Ozark. Reportedly, Heath finished orientation but did not return after that. On October 15, 2025, Heath was hired at another healthcare facility in Lake Ozark. She is accused of using the same falsified credentials but adding an "Associate Degree in Health Science A.S.N. L.P.N." to her resume. Heath was fired ten days after she started the position, when other staff realized she did not have the skills required. Prosecutors charged Heath with three counts of Forgery and one count of Fraudulent Use Of Nursing Credentials. A warrant was issued for Heath’s arrest.