A woman was sentenced on Wednesday to serve more than three years in federal prison for using licenses belonging to other people to masquerade as a nurse and obtain work at more than 40 health care facilities in Maryland.

U.S. Senior District Judge Richard D. Bennett noted that Thomasina Amponsah posed as a nurse from 2019 to 2023 during the COVID-19 pandemic. He described her conduct as outrageous.

“People in the community were subjected to danger and harm,” Bennett said. “I find this to be an egregious breach of trust on your part.”

Bennett ordered Amponsah, 51, of Baltimore County, to serve the maximum sentence under a plea agreement: 38 months in prison. She must also spend three years on supervised release and pay more than $145,000 in restitution.

Amponsah pleaded guilty in August to false statements in connection to health care matters and aggravated identity theft.

If she had been convicted at trial, Bennett said, he would have given her more time. Amponsah must report on Jan. 12, 2026, to begin serving her sentence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Wenner said Amponsah put patients at risk.

“She was not qualified to be a nurse, Your Honor, and it showed in the care she provided,” said Wenner, who asked for a sentence of 38 months in prison.

Amponsah forged a doctor’s signature on a prescription, forgot to provide medication to patients and failed to place a feeding tube, Wenner said.

The fact that Amponsah was a certified medical assistant, he said, did not make the crime less severe. She knew the difference between the two positions.

Every shift she worked as an unlicensed nurse, Wenner said, was a “roll of the dice.”

Assistant Federal Public Defender Christina Wong, Amponsah’s attorney, requested a sentence of two years in prison, the mandatory minimum for aggravated identity theft.

Amponsah experienced a difficult upbringing and gave birth to her first child at 17. She worked in retail before obtaining a diploma in 2008 from Remington College in medical assisting, Wong said.

From 2007 to 2016, Amponsah worked as a certified medical assistant, Wong said.

She said temporary staffing agencies placed her client at health care facilities. Amponsah did not apply to 40 different places, Wong said.

Amponsah, she said, has already been punished in several ways. She’s now a felon and will never be able to work again in health care.

“We’re asking for quite a severe sentence,” Wong said. “There’s already been punishment that’s been doled out.”

Wong noted that Amponsah has a lot of family support, which she’ll need when she gets out of prison.

She’s exploring what career to pursue.