VERO BEACH, Fla. — Dozens of aspiring nurses on the Treasure Coast were ripped off.
They spent hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of dollars at an unlicensed medical school.
On Tuesday, they had a chance to come face to face with the woman who scammed them.
Halima Dutse works as a certified nursing assistant at Sebastian River Medical Center. She's been in the medical field for a decade and wants to move forward.
"I love helping people. I love to gain knowledge," Dutse said. "I love understanding the anatomy and the physiology of the human body."
In 2022, she had initially tried to get her practical nursing and certified nursing degrees through Grace Med Training in Vero Beach but found out the school was not approved or accredited.
"It made me want to teach classes because if this woman would have done this the right way, she could have helped so many people," Dutse said.
Vero Beach police arrested the woman running the school, Michelle Wimes, after a three-month investigation. Detectives told WPTV that students who thought they had graduated from the school were unable to take the state licensing tests because of Grace Med Training.
Vero Beach
Indian River County woman ran fake medical training school, police say
Wimes was in an Indian River County courtroom on Tuesday to take a plea deal.
It was Dutse who confronted Wimes when she felt the school was cutting corners, later discovering that Wimes was never a licensed nurse.
"She just kept lying and she just kept going on with her lie," Dutse said.
Vero Beach police discovered 60 victims who lost more than $145,000.
In court, Wimes pleaded guilty to four felony counts.
Judge Robert Meadows empathized with what the students had endured.
"I can’t even put myself in that position," Meadows said. "I can't even imagine."
In the end, the judge handed down a seven-year prison sentence followed by 20 years probation.
Dutse said hearing Wimes admit responsibility is a start.
"Taking accountability and understanding that what she did was wrong," Dutse said.
Dutse still plans to take her nursing exams later this year.
