Police arrest woman posing as nurse at Bobbi Brown hospice

A woman in charge of caring for Bobbi Kristina Brown at the hospice where she died was impersonating a nurse and faces charges, police said.

Brown, the only daughter of singers Bobby Brown and the late Whitney Houston, died on July 26 at the age of 22.

Her death came six months after she was found face down and unresponsive in the bathtub of her home in January.

There is no indication in a police report obtained by The Associated Press that Brown’s care was affected by Taiwo Sobamowo, the nurse in charge of caring for the 22-year-old at Peachtree Christian Hospice.

Sobamowo, 32, was impersonating a licensed nurse with a similar name and faces charges that include identity fraud and nursing without a licence, police said.

In a statement, Homestead Hospice CEO Mallie Sharafat said the company performed a background check and reviewed references from other health care agencies in the area.

The company is contracted to provide care workers to the hospice.

“We had no reason to believe that she was anything other than a good nurse with proper credentials,” Ms Sharafat wrote. “As soon as the credentialing discrepancy was discovered by one of our employees, we immediately took action and notified the appropriate authorities.”

An alert published by the Georgia Board of Nursing following Sobamowo’s arrest said she was fired on August 5 when she could not provide proof of a licence.

Sobamowo was arrested on Sunday.

Police said they want to hear from other patients at the metro Atlanta hospice who might have had contact with Sobamowo.

Duluth police Captain Mark Hunter said investigators want to hear from patients or friends and relatives of people treated by Sobamowo.

“In the capacity that she was operating, the patients that she treated, there are more than just Bobbi Kristina,” Capt Hunter said. Her actions could warrant more charges, he added.

Police are not certain how many other patients she treated. She had also worked at an assisted-living facility in a nearby county, police said. It is not clear exactly when or how long she worked at both places.

Police in Roswell, where Brown was found unconscious, have been investigating the circumstances surrounding her death.

In September, the county medical examiner said the cause has been determined, but the post-mortem examination results would not be publicly revealed because of a court order to seal the results.

The criminal investigation of Sobamowo started in Forsyth County, where she worked in the assisted-living facility. On October 27, a detective there contacted Duluth police “in reference to a high-profile case” that the city had some jurisdiction over, Duluth police wrote in their report.

Authorities said Sobamowo’s employment records indicated she attended a medical college in the nation’s capital, but they could not find any evidence of that.