Hearing examines whether nurse failed to disclose New York conviction and license surrender on Connecticut application

Respondent Luis Alfaro testified at a Connecticut Department of Public Health disciplinary hearing about a 2023 New York conviction and a voluntary surrender of his New York LPN license, amid allegations he failed to disclose those matters on Connecticut licensing paperwork.

Department counsel presented documents the hearing record identifies as a New York employment record showing a status of 'terminated' at Fordham Nursing and Rehabilitation Center dated 04/19/2022 and a voluntary surrender packet signed by Alfaro. The department’s exhibit also shows an entry that a criminal charge was filed on or about 04/19/2022 in Bronx Criminal Court and that Alfaro was convicted on 01/17/2023 of attempted endangering the welfare of an incompetent person. Alfaro acknowledged he signed and notarized the voluntary surrender and said, "I plead guilty." He also confirmed his New York LPN license number listed in the exhibits and a Connecticut license number the department records (New York: 302902 listed in the file; Connecticut: 044947).

Counsel pointed out that Alfaro submitted an application for a Connecticut practical nurse license dated 01/18/2023 and later submitted a renewal application dated 02/06/2024 in which he answered "no" to questions asking whether he had disciplinary action or privileges terminated by any hospital, nursing home, clinic or licensing authority since his last renewal. The department contends those answers were inconsistent with the surrender documents and the New York charging/conviction record.

Alfaro told the panel he believed his application responses were truthful when made because, he said, New York had not taken disciplinary action against his license in the way he understood the question and he had not been notified of any investigation or discipline by the New York Department of Health prior to submitting the Connecticut forms. "My license was clean. It was unlimited to exercise my right as a nurse," Alfaro testified. He also said he submitted the Connecticut application in connection with plans to move and work in Connecticut and that he expected a sentence of probation and sealing of the misdemeanor.

Defense counsel, identified in the record as Attorney Brown, pressed the panel on context and intent, asking whether Alfaro understood the application questions and probing his background and language/communication abilities. Brown elicited testimony about Alfaro’s nursing career, including prior assignments with staffing agencies, work at county facilities and a veterans' hospital, and about his belief that no formal New York disciplinary status had been imposed when he completed the Connecticut forms.

The panel addressed an objection by the department to certain background questioning; the presiding officer overruled the objection and allowed the defense to continue the line of inquiry so the board could consider Alfaro’s experience and character. The hearing paused for a brief recess near 3:30 p.m. and was scheduled to resume after the break.

No final board decision appears in the transcript. The record at the pause shows contested factual claims about when Alfaro learned of the New York matters, what the voluntary surrender document said and whether his answers on Connecticut forms should have been "yes." The panel will weigh those factual disputes and the parties' legal arguments as the proceeding continues.