NURSE IMPOSTER SENTENCED IN MONTGOMERY
FOR PRACTICING NURSING WITHOUT A LICENSE

Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that Abou Bakarr Kamara, 56, the director of the defunct Gaithersburg nurse staffing agency called Metro Medical Services, was sentenced in Montgomery County Circuit Court for Practicing Licensed Practical Nursing without a License and Conspiracy with wife Khadeeja Kamara to violate Licensing and Misrepresentation provisions of the Maryland Nurse Practice Act. The Honorable S. Michael Pincus sentenced Abou Kamara on the first count to 364 days in jail, suspending all but 3 weekends, commencing October 18, 2002. The Court imposed a $2,500 fine, suspending all but $500; and placed Kamara on two years supervised probation. While on probation Kamara must complete 150 hours of alternative community service. Judge Pincus imposed the same sentence for the Conspiracy conviction, to run concurrent to the unauthorized practice count, and he imposed an additional $2,500 fine, suspending all but $500.

The offenses occurred in Montgomery County on and after October 19, 2000, when Abou Kamara personally assumed the nursing care of a severely disabled 23-month-old girl so that her mother could take a short trip for the first time since her birth. The baby’s mother retained the defendant trusting representations from Abou Kamara and his wife, an employee at Metro Medical Services, that her daughter would be cared for by a skilled licensed nurse.

The State’s investigation revealed that Abou Kamara was not a licensed nurse in Maryland or any other state, and he is not licensed to practice medicine in the United States even though he has a medical degree from the First Leningrad Ivan Pavlov Medical Institute in the former Soviet Union. These licensing offenses came to light following a Montgomery County Police and Maryland Board of Nursing investigation after the child’s death. Abou Kamara was not charged with any crimes relating to the death.

This case was prosecuted by the Criminal Investigations Division of the Attorney General’s Office.

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