Woman caring for Bobbi Kristina Brown impersonated nurse, police say
ATLANTA -- A woman in charge of Bobbi Kristina Brown's care at the hospice where she died was impersonating a nurse and faces charges that include identity fraud and nursing without a license, police said.
Taiwo Sobamowo cared for Brown, the only daughter of Bobby Brown and the late Whitney Houston, at Peachtree Christian Hospice in Duluth, according to a police report obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. The report describes Sobamowo, 32, as the nurse in charge of caring for Brown.
CBS affiliate WGCL reported she provided fake credentials, showing she was licensed to work as a registered nurse. She was terminated from the facility on Aug. 5 after she was unable to provide the proper proof of licensure.
There is nothing in the report that mentions how Brown's care might have been affected. Duluth police said the case is under investigation.
The 22-year-old Brown died July 26, months after she was found face-down and unresponsive in the bathtub of her Roswell home Jan. 31. The hospice did not immediately return messages seeking comment Tuesday.
Sobamowo, who has addresses in Buford, Georgia, and Raleigh, North Carolina, was being held Tuesday in a Raleigh jail on a charge of being a fugitive from another state, records show. The jail had no record of an attorney representing her.
The case involving Sobamowo began in September, when investigators in Forsyth County began looking into her background after they received a tip raising questions about Sobamowo, who had worked at an assisted living facility, sheriff's Deputy Epifanio Rodriguez said Tuesday.
Sobamowo faces charges of first-degree forgery, identity fraud and practicing nursing without a license in Forsyth County, Rodriguez said.
On Oct. 27, Forsyth County sheriff's Detective Cpl. Jeffrey Roe contacted Duluth police "in reference to a high-profile case" that Duluth has some jurisdiction over, Duluth police wrote in their report.
Roe said Sobamowo had stolen the state-issued RN number of a real nurse at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.
"Our investigation has revealed no license or registration on record through the Georgia Board of Nursing for Sobamowo," Duluth police said in a separate statement on the case.
"Documentation obtained through Sobamowo's employment records indicated she attended a medical college in Washington, D.C.," the statement said. "To date we have been unable to confirm her attendance at this school."
Duluth police said they've obtained a warrant charging Sobamowo with practicing as a registered nurse without a license in that city and that additional charges may be filed.
Roswell police have been investigating the circumstances surrounding Brown's death. In September, the Fulton County Medical Examiner said the cause has been determined, but the autopsy results would not be publicly revealed because of a court order to seal the results.