By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
A Yachats woman elected to the Yachats Rural Fire Protection District Board in May lied in the Lincoln County voters pamphlet about being a registered nurse and some of her work history.
The statements by A’lyce Ruberg violate Oregon election law and in the past week triggered investigations by the Oregon State Board of Nursing.
Ruberg, 50, was elected by a wide margin to the five-member board in May. In the Lincoln County voters pamphlet she listed her occupation as a nurse, that she had various college degrees and had worked for two California fire agencies, including as an emergency medical services supervisor.
Ruberg, who has lived in her parents’ Yachats house for about 10 years, has never been a nurse in Oregon or California, where she grew up and went to college.
In addition to her voters pamphlet claims, Ruberg has told acquaintances around Yachats that she is a nurse. Her Linkedin profile says she is a nurse with Samaritan Health Services in Lincoln City. She is not.
It is against the law in Oregon to practice nursing or even indicate you are a nurse without a state-approved license.
It is also a felony to make a false statement in required portions of a state or county voters’ pamphlet.
In July 2017 the Oregon State Board of Nursing denied Ruberg’s 2016 application to become a licensed practical nurse for five reasons, including:
- Failing to disclose her criminal history in California from 2002-2004, which included possessing bad checks, passing a bad check, fraud to obtain $9,000 in public assistance, perjury and petty theft;
- Providing false information while applying for jobs at a hospital in 2012, 2013 and 2014, including claiming education she did not have;
- Falsely claiming to have an emergency medical technician certificate from Louisiana, and providing EMT certificate numbers that belonged to other people;
- And, failing to disclose a medical condition “which may prevent her from being able to safely practice as a nurse.”
After interviews with investigators, Ruberg did not request a hearing to contest the issues and the board officially denied her application on July 12, 2017.
“This is problematic for us,” Kathleen Simpson, an administrative assistant in the board’s investigation’s unit, said of Ruberg’s voters pamphlet claim. “She can’t do that.”
Board investigators last week notified the state Elections Division of its probe, but that agency has yet to start an investigation.
When contacted Monday, Ruberg said she was aware of the Board of Nursing’s latest investigation but otherwise said she had no comment.
The Yachats election
Ruberg ran for the Yachats fire board in a May special election, easily winning with 341 votes over longtime incumbent Cy Kauffman and Drew Tracy, a former assistant chief of a large police department in Maryland.
Ruberg was the only one to pay for a statement in the Lincoln County voters pamphlet.
In the Lincoln County voters pamphlet:
- Ruberg said her occupation was a registered nurse. Under “Occupational Background” Ruberg wrote: “Nursing, Paramedic; CalFire.”
- Listed a master’s degree in nursing from Regent University, a college in Virginia founded by evangelist Pat Robertson, and a bachelor’s degree in fire science administration from California State-Sacramento, where she previously lived.
- Under “Prior Government Experience” Ruberg said she was an EMS/Fire service coordinator for CalFire, the statewide California firefighting agency, and had worked for the San Francisco Fire Department.
CalState-Sacramento confirmed to YachatsNews that Ruberg graduated from there in 1992 with the fire science degree. But in her LinkedIn profile, Ruberg said her Cal State degree was in business/pre-nursing.
Regent University did not respond to a request to confirm Ruberg’s master of nursing degree. But in Ruberg’s 2016 application to the Oregon State Board of Nursing she submitted only transcripts and records from 11 months of classes at Pioneer Pacific College, a small for-profit college in Springfield, Ore.
The San Francisco Fire Department said it has no record of Ruberg ever working for that agency.
CalFire is in the process of responding to a public records request to see if Ruberg ever worked for it.
How this became public
Since taking office in July, Ruberg has attended only one of six regularly scheduled board meetings.
Ruberg’s issues came to light four weeks ago when the Yachats fire department and YachatsNews.com received an anonymous letter alleging that Ruberg was not a nurse, had been denied a nursing license, that her voters pamphlet educational background was incorrect, and that she had a criminal history.
A criminal history doesn’t automatically disqualify someone for office.
Yachats Fire administrator Frankie Petrick consulted with the district’s lawyer, who recommended telling Ruberg about the letter and sending it to the state Elections Division. Petrick and board chair Katherine Guenther then both found the Board of Nursing’s license denial online on the agency’s website.
Petrick called to talk to Ruberg about it, as did Guenther. Ruberg told Guenther there was an explanation and that she would be at the board’s Sept. 10 meeting.
But she did not show up. On the advice of their attorney, Petrick read the anonymous letter into the record at the meeting.
Ruberg told YachatsNews on Monday she would attend Thursday’s board meeting. But she did not, and has now missed five of six meetings since July 1.
The Yachats Fire Board does not have a policy to disqualify members who are not excused from meetings for an extended time, nor does it have a policy to remove board members should they run afoul of any election laws. Board members Thursday said they would begin looking at the policies of other special districts or local governments to see how they handle such issues. Other than a resignation, Petrick told the board Thursday the only recourse would appear to be a special recall election, which would have to be initiated by the public.
In a Sept. 10 letter to the district, the Elections Division said because the letter it passed along was anonymous and there is no contact information, it would not investigate the allegations. But nursing board investigators said they notified the Elections Division Sept. 18 after finding Ruberg’s Lincoln County voters pamphlet statement online and knowing that the state had denied her a nursing license.
“It’s a public safety issue,” said Simpson, the nursing board’s investigations director. “It’s very concerning. We take fraud, criminal behavior and health very seriously.
“We don’t want her going around Oregon claiming to be a registered nurse,” Simpson said.
Read the Oregon State Board of Nursing’s denial letter here:
DisciplineDocument
What Oregon law says about nursing licenses:
2017 ORS 678.021¹ License required to practice nursing
It shall be unlawful for any person to practice nursing or offer to practice nursing in this state or to use any title or abbreviation, sign, card or device to indicate the person is practicing either practical or registered nursing unless the person is licensed under ORS 678.010 (Definitions for ORS 678.010 to 678.410) to 678.410 (Fees) at the level for which the indication of practice is made and the license is valid and in effect. [1957 c.316 §4 (enacted in lieu of 678.020); 1973 c.584 §2; 2003 c.14 §431]
2017 ORS 678.023¹ Use of title “nurse”
Use of title “nurse.” An individual may not use the title “nurse” unless the individual:
(1) Has earned a nursing degree or a nursing certificate from an accredited nursing program; and
(2) Is licensed by a health professional regulatory board as defined in ORS 676.160 (Definitions for ORS 676.165 to 676.180) to practice the particular health care profession in which the individual’s nursing degree or nursing certificate was earned. [2015 c.345 §6]
What Oregon law says about false statements in voters pamphlets:
ORS 260.715(1); False Statements in Material Required by Election Law Violation of this statute is a Class C Felony. This election law prohibits knowingly making false statements in material required by election law. The material includes the required information on candidate filing forms and the required information for a candidate’s voters’ pamphlet statement. It does not include the optional portion of the candidate’s statement or measure arguments for the voters’ pamphlet. However, ORS 260.532 (discussed above) applies to the optional portions of the candidate’s statements and to measure arguments for the voters’ pamphlet. Complaints under that statute must be filed with the appropriate circuit court. An example of a false statement under ORS 260.715(1) is stating the candidate has a college degree when the candidate does not.
So what is so hard about kicking her butt out of office. It’s not like impeaching the Trump.