Digital Forensics Dispatch

Forensic Investigation Proves SC Nurse Did Not Send Racist Messages, Shows She is a Victim

June 30, 2020

A nurse with Carolina Gardens Senior Living came under fire after racist messages were shared online under her name, but an investigation into the messages revealed that she was not the person who shared them, Bristow Marchant of The State reports.  After the racist messages were shared online, the parent company of Carolina Gardens, Priority Life Care, launched an investigation into the messages that were circulating on social media.

The nurse in question filed a police report that claimed the messages that were shared online were fake and that they were shared online while she and her family were vacationing. Priority Life hired an outside digital forensic firm to conduct an investigation into the origins of the posts. The nurse in question was suspended without pay and was not permitted to care for or contact any of the residents that she cared for during the investigation. The investigation examined the email account of the nurse to look for messages. The chief operating officer, Bobby Petras stated “We looked at as many emails as we could, as far as a few years ago up until recently. We could not find anything that was consistent with the post that was made.”

An outside investigator from MSI Detective Services, Perry Myers, stated “I have scientifically concluded (the nurse) was not the author of the racist statements, and those statements were not generated from (the nurse’s) Facebook account.” Myers and his agency are working with law enforcement to track down the source of the messages that were shared online. The CEO of Priority Life, Sevy Petras has said that the staff at Priority Life will receive training on how to prevent their social media accounts from being hacked. Petras also stated that those investigating the messages were dedicated to finding “the true culprits who set out to damage the reputation of a trusted nurse, and also take away focus on safety and well-being for our residents during this continued pandemic.”

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