Fake nurse Brigitte Cleroux faces new criminal charges in Surrey, B.C.

Serial imposter Brigitte Cleroux is facing new criminal charges in British Columbia for offences that allegedly began when she was out on day parole from a federal prison in 2019.

Charges of fraud over $5,000 and impersonation were filed against Cleroux in provincial court in Surrey, B.C., at the end of April, court records show. The 51-year-old woman is currently behind bars in Ontario for posing as a nurse in Ottawa and is awaiting trial in Vancouver on similar charges.

The B.C. Prosecution Service and RCMP both declined to provide further information about Cleroux's alleged offences in Surrey, except to say the fraud was reported in May 2020 — just before Cleroux allegedly began posing as a perioperative nurse at B.C. Women's Hospital.

However, an April 27 warrant for her arrest suggests she is accused of defrauding a local dental surgeon and impersonating someone named Melanie Thompson, one of the aliases Cleroux has been known to use while pretending to be a nurse.

Cleroux made her first appearance in Surrey provincial court on the new charges on May 4 by phone, and seemed surprised by the development.

"I don't understand why I'm in court," she told the judge, but no further information was forthcoming. The case was adjourned until June 1 for a bail hearing.

Before now, Cleroux has amassed at least 67 criminal convictions as an adult. Over the past two decades, she has been accused or convicted of pretending to be a nurse in Colorado, Ontario, Alberta and B.C., and has posed as a teacher in Alberta and Quebec.

According to the Surrey warrant, the new impersonation charge dates from April 5, 2019, to March 4, 2020, and the fraud charge spans the period from Aug. 24, 2019, to Feb. 29, 2020.

Cleroux was on day parole from a previous fraud conviction in April 2019, before she was granted statutory release that June. According to records from the Parole Board of Canada, she was working in a "stable technical position" at a dental clinic in B.C.'s Lower Mainland at the time of her release.

It's not clear if there's any connection between Cleroux's dental clinic job and the new charges.

The dental surgeon named in the arrest warrant has not responded to requests for comment, and the real Melanie Thompson could not be located.

Cleroux also faces 17 criminal charges in Vancouver, including allegations of assaulting 10 patients, related to her time at B.C. Women's Hospital between June 2020 and June 2021.

CBC has confirmed that she impersonated a nurse at a private surgery clinic in Victoria and at a long-term care home in Vancouver during her time in B.C. as well, although she has not been charged with any crimes in connection with those positions.

She is serving a seven-year sentence for posing as a nurse at two Ottawa clinics in the summer of 2021.

According to parole documents, Cleroux has used more than 20 aliases to commit fraud over the past three decades.

The Provincial Health Services Authority has said that Cleroux used the name of a real nurse, Melanie Smith, when she applied to work at B.C. Women's, but told administrators she didn't have a registration number yet because she had recently transferred from Ontario.

According to court filings in a proposed class action lawsuit, Cleroux was involved in the treatment of 899 patients at the Vancouver hospital.