Regina Yankey And Debra Polera Allegedly Falsified The Employment History Of Applicants They Sought To Have Licensed By The State To Teach In Their Would-Be Nursing School

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the indictments of Regina Yankey and Debra Polera for allegedly falsifying the employment history of the individuals they put forward for licensing as director and teacher for their planned Certified Nursing Assistant training institute. Yankey and Polera allegedly falsely submitted this information in their application to the Bureau of Proprietary School Supervision for the State Education Department in order to have their planned training institute approved.

“Falsifying the credentials of those tasked with training individuals who will take care of vulnerable New Yorkers is irresponsible,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “Nursing home staff must have the highest level of training and experience—New Yorkers should expect nothing less.”

The defendants, who together operated Major Staffing LLC., a nurse staffing agency, are alleged to have knowingly submitted nine different falsified documents to the Bureau of Proprietary School Supervision in Albany from November 2013 to June 2014. It is alleged that Yankey and Polera falsified the employment credentials in an effort to push through the licensing of their school, Kings Career Training Institute, where they planned to train Certified Nursing Assistants for the chronically ill and elderly.

Defendants Regina Yankey, 38 of Middletown, and Debra Polera, 63 of Newburgh, are charged with nine counts of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, in violation of Penal Law § 175.35(1), a Class E Felony.

The defendants were arraigned yesterday by Hon. Peter Lynch in Albany County Court.

The Attorney General thanks the Bureau of Proprietary School Supervision for the State Education Department for their assistance in this investigation.

The charges against defendants are accusations, and they are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

Prosecuting the case is Assistant Attorney General Christina Randall-James, with assistance from Assistant Attorney General Brian McDonald and Senior Counsel Wanda Perez-Maldonado of the Attorney General’s Public Integrity Bureau, which is led by Deputy Bureau Chief Stacy Aronowitz, Bureau Chief Daniel Cort, and Executive Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice Kelly Donovan. The investigation was handled by Investigator Dennis Churns of the Attorney General's Investigations Bureau, which is led by Deputy Chief Antoine Karam and Chief Dominick Zarrella.