As a backup to its inconsistent fingerprinting system, the bureau asks all nurses renewing their licenses if they have been convicted of any crimes since their last renewal, usually a span of two years. The method essentially relies on the integrity of criminals.
With no fingerprints on record, Inette Schwam Linstead checked "no" when asked in November 2002 if she'd been convicted of a crime, according to bureau documents. In fact, she had been convicted months earlier of driving under the influence and of forging a prescription. In 2003, with her license freshly renewed, she was convicted twice of possessing controlled substances, the bureau documents state.
The bureau did not seek to revoke or restrict her license until 2006. The next year, an administrative law judge gave her five years' probation.
In an interview, Linstead acknowledged that while in the throes of her addiction, she went to work under the influence of methamphetamine. But she said she does not believe she harmed patients. Now five years sober, she admits having lied to the bureau but says she feels she deserved a second chance.
"When you're fearful of losing something, people tend to be dishonest because they don't have a higher power in their life," she said.
Even when licensees are truthful about criminal convictions, the process can be nonsensical.
In April 2002, David Leland Lowe revealed to the bureau that he had been convicted of lewd and lascivious acts with a 14-year-old, according to nursing bureau documents. Lowe had sex with the teenager in 1995 when he was 31, the records state.
The bureau renewed his license anyway.
In 2004, Lowe again disclosed his conviction, in writing, to the vocational nursing bureau.
It wasn't until more than two years later, in November 2006, that the bureau took the first step against his license, leaving unexplained why Lowe's crime suddenly merited attention.
An administrative law judge allowed Lowe to keep his license but placed him on five years' probation, noting that Lowe's employer, a nursing registry, described him as the best it had.
Lowe did not return calls for comment, but his former attorney, Michael Coffino, said in an e-mail that his client is "a perfect example of why all convicts should not be treated with the same degree of trepidation, even when it comes to having them as nurses."
San Bernardino nurse David Roberge agrees -- but he never thought the bureau would accept that argument.
