Shannon Womack

Introduction

Shannon Nicole Womack is a woman from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, convicted of impersonating a nurse at rehabilitation and nursing home facilities in western Pennsylvania and, police said, in several other states. She posed as a licensed practical nurse, a registered nurse and a registered nurse supervisor without holding a nursing license in Pennsylvania or any other state, using the stolen identities and registration information of real nurses to obtain shifts through staffing agencies. Pennsylvania State Police tied her to approximately 20 aliases and seven Social Security numbers. In August 2026 she pleaded guilty to 43 charged counts and was immediately sentenced to 4½ to 9 years in state prison.

Background Information

Womack was 39 years old when she was charged in 2025. Police said she used the identities and credentials of four confirmed nurses from southern states, and that her aliases included Shannon Nicole Parham, Shannon Nicole Abiola, Shannon Nicole Armstrong, Shannon Abiola-Parham, Shannon Nicole Grimes, Shannon Nicole Lawson, Shannon Nicole Lethco, Shannon Nicole Robinson and Shannon Lee Lawson.

According to police, Womack secured nursing positions by submitting fraudulently signed documents and fake references to staffing agencies, and by creating a false limited liability company to send herself to jobs. “She was going through proper host agency channels and then created her own, as like her own fake secretary, answering the phone call, giving it to herself,” State Trooper Rocco Gagliardi said at a news conference. Police said the scheme began in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when demand for nursing staff was high. A probable cause affidavit stated she was not a licensed medical professional in any state, and she was listed on Georgia’s “Nursing Imposter Alerts” site, according to the affidavit; Georgia’s attorney general issued a cease-and-desist order but could not locate her. She also had active warrants for identity fraud in Georgia, Tennessee, New Jersey and Indiana, a criminal complaint states.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated. The core conduct in this section was established by a guilty plea in court. Earlier investigative findings described here were allegations at the time they were reported.

The investigation began in April 2025, when Womack was stopped in a routine traffic stop on Interstate 79 in Cecil Township and gave state police troopers false identities; an unlicensed gun was in her vehicle, investigators said. A search warrant executed on her vehicle turned up multiple forms of identification, prescription medications prescribed to different victims, medical documents, patient logs and medical equipment, police said. Investigators later associated roughly 20 aliases and seven Social Security numbers with her.

Per Washington County court documents, Womack worked six shifts at the Greenery Center for Rehab and Nursing in North Strabane Township over a week in October 2024 and one shift at Southmont of Presbyterian SeniorCare in North Franklin Township in March 2025. Investigators said she may have stolen more than 120 oxycodone pills while working at Presbyterian SeniorCare, where she was in charge of the medical cart and failed to distribute medication to residents. “Five residents were affected by said acts as over 120 oxycodone 5mg pills were missing,” a probable cause affidavit reads. She also worked shifts at facilities in Allegheny, Beaver, Bradford, Westmoreland and Erie counties, according to court documents, and investigators said the facilities placed her on “do not retain” lists for misconduct or unprofessional behavior; investigators said nine Pennsylvania employers had done so before her arrest.

In July 2025, Womack was arrested and charged with 43 counts, including endangering the welfare of a care-dependent person, identity theft, forgery, falsely pretending to hold a license, corrupt organizations, unlawful use of a computer, and use and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to court records.

Public Reaction and Consequences

At a news conference, Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh condemned the conduct: “This is a vile act, or acts, I should say, not only taking advantage of older citizens in this way.” State police asked health care companies to review their employment records and to contact investigators if any of Womack’s aliases matched them.

The case also drew attention to the nurses whose identities were stolen. Two real nurses named Shannon were listed as victims. One of them, Shannon Parham, who lives out of state, wrote a victim impact statement explaining that she had received calls over several years from police investigators and medical facility employees across the country questioning her work history and professional conduct, and that she had to warn potential employers about complaints attached to her nursing record. “Today is a day I’m relieved about,” Parham wrote in the statement, which was read aloud by Assistant District Attorney MarLee DeBolt at the plea hearing. She said she was most “horrified” that Womack had posed as a nurse without medical training. “I wondered how someone could be so bold to use my name and license,” she wrote.

Current Status

On Wednesday, August 5, 2026, Womack pleaded guilty before President Judge Valarie Costanzo in the Washington County Courthouse to several felony and misdemeanor counts, including felony counts of unlawful use of a computer, endangering the welfare of a care-dependent person, acquisition of a controlled substance by fraud, corrupt organizations and carrying a firearm without a license, along with misdemeanor counts of falsely pretending to hold a professional license and theft by unlawful taking. She was immediately sentenced to 4½ to 9 years in a state prison, to be followed by six years of probation. The Herald-Standard reported that she was charged only in Washington County, although warrants from the other states remained outstanding.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Womack never held a legitimate nursing career; the professional identity she built was, by her own courtroom admission, pretense. At the sentencing hearing, where she appeared in an orange jail jumpsuit beside public defender Patrick Fitch, she did not apologize to the nurses she impersonated or the patients she endangered, instead discussing her rehabilitation. “I just feel like punishment over rehabilitation isn’t great,” she said. “People can pretend, but every pretending comes to an end.” Asked by Costanzo if she wanted to address the victims, she replied, “It takes a full amount to change.” The conviction leaves her with a state prison sentence of 4½ to 9 years, six years of probation afterward, and outstanding identity-fraud warrants in Georgia, Tennessee, New Jersey and Indiana.