Connecticut nursing board hears evidence that LPN surrendered New York license after conviction; defense disputes disciplinary characterization

The Connecticut Board of Examiners for Nursing convened a public disciplinary hearing on a complaint against licensed practical nurse Luis Humberto Alfaro, petition number 2023-1256, on the record at 1:40 p.m. Chair Mary Dieteman opened the session and affirmed the panel’s role in preparing proposed findings for the full board.

The Department of Public Health urged the panel to consider records showing that Alfaro applied for Connecticut licensure by endorsement on Jan. 18, 2023, one day after a conviction in New York criminal court. "The Department is alleging that respondent knowingly concealed information, which he knew would impact his application for licensure," Department attorney Anthony Nanny told the panel, summarizing the Department’s theory that Alfaro failed to notify Connecticut within 90 days and did not disclose the voluntary surrender on his Feb. 6, 2024 renewal.

The Department introduced a package of exhibits (department exhibits 1–9) that included a New York voluntary surrender document, New York court-related dates, the respondent’s Connecticut application and renewal, a subpoena response from Fordham Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, and an amended investigative report. The panel entered board exhibits 1–7 and department exhibits 1–9 into the record after an evidentiary dispute; respondent counsel Richard Brown objected to the investigative report as hearsay but the panel overruled the objection and admitted the report.

Investigator Brendan Hosey, a special investigator for the Department of Public Health who conducted the inquiry, testified that New York accepted the respondent’s surrender on Sept. 12, 2023, and that the voluntary surrender documents recite charges originating April 19, 2022, with a conviction recorded Jan. 17, 2023, on an amended charge of attempted endangering the welfare of an incompetent person involving a patient with stage 5 dementia. Hosey said Fordham’s employment records list Alfaro’s status as "terminated" with a termination date of April 19, 2022, and that Nursys (the national nurse licensure data bank) lists a voluntary surrender with the basis noted as a criminal conviction.

"Respondent is charged with being convicted of committing an act constituting a crime under New York State law," Hosey read from the surrender and attached specification, quoting the New York documents the Department offered into evidence.

In his opening and in cross-examination, defense attorney Richard Brown pushed back on the Department’s framing. Brown argued that New York’s licensing agency did not itself impose disciplinary sanctions, that the voluntary surrender appears to have been initiated by Alfaro, and that he found no licensing complaint filed with the New York licensing board. Brown also disputed the severity of the underlying charge as characterized by the Department, saying the matter was not a felony and that "the facts will show my client's testimony" and that his client "believed strongly that he did so, consistent with Connecticut law."

Hosey acknowledged in testimony that he located no document showing the New York licensing agency suspended or placed the respondent’s license on probation and confirmed that surrender paperwork was signed by the respondent. He also described the basis recited in the New York documents and Fordham’s personnel record listing termination.

No final disposition was reached during the session. After redirect examination and additional evidentiary matters, the panel paused the hearing amid technical problems affecting participants' connections and said it would go off the record.

Next steps: the panel will continue the proceeding according to its schedule; no final decision or vote on licensure was recorded during the portion of the hearing captured in the record.