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Written by: A. Smith
Published June 12, 2025 @ 4:31 PM ET
HARALSON COUNTY, Ga. – A Stockbridge man already under arrest for impersonating a nurse in Atlanta is now facing dozens of new charges after police say he used stolen credentials to work at a Buchanan nursing home and illegally administered narcotics to patients.
Lonnie Releford, 56, who also goes by Lonnie Robert Williams, is accused of using a falsified LPN license and stolen identification to secure a temporary nursing position at Buchanan Healthcare. Investigators say he worked at the facility for 10 days between late March and early April, during which he allegedly dispensed medications, including morphine and other Schedule I through V drugs, without proper certification.
Releford’s employment came to light after the nursing home recognized him from news coverage about his recent arrest in Fulton County. In that case, he had applied for a nursing job at a facility on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta and was flagged when staff cross-checked his name against a statewide registry of known nursing imposters.
Authorities say Releford used the license of a real nurse with decades of experience currently working in Albany. Investigators believe he may have used that license at multiple facilities across Georgia to pose as a licensed professional.
Releford is being held at the Fulton County Jail. He faces 49 charges, 48 of them felonies, related to unlawfully dispensing medication and misrepresenting himself as a nurse. So far, police say there is no indication he was diverting medications for personal use, and no injuries to patients have been publicly reported.
The Buchanan nursing home declined to comment on the incident.
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