The plant nurse at Tyson Foods’ medical clinic for the past 15 years has been practicing without a license, Shelbyville police said Friday.

Records indicate Bobbie Gail Blair has been falsely claiming to be licensed, using the license number of a legitimately licensed LPN elsewhere in Tennessee, Detective Nathaniel Everhart said.

Blair. 49, pf Philippi Road, is charged with 10 counts of impersonation of a medical professional and two counts of identity theft. Shewas indicted by a Bedford County grand jury Monday and arrested Friday. She was released on $10,000 bond.

Records subpoenaed by Everhart show Blair, the wife of Tyson plant manager Andrew Blair, has treated more than 15,000 patients at the clinic.

“She was impersonating a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN),” Everhart said. “You must have a license to practice medicine to be an LPN.”

Long tenure

Blair graduated from the LPN program at Tennessee College of Applied Technology in McMinnville in 2007 and started at Tyson the following week, Everhart said.

She was not married to Andrew Blair at the time; the marriage occurred several years later. Andrew Blair showed no evidence of having known his wife does not have a nursing license.

Records obtained by Everhart from the Tennessee Board of Nursing showed Blair took, and failed, the NCLEX (National Council Licensure Exam) twice in 2007, and afterwards made no further attempts.

Each Tyson facility has an in-house medical clinic and is overseen by nursing staff at Tyson’s corporate headquarters in Arkansas.

False license

The corporate nursing management had been provided forged documents including a fake license bearing Blair’s name, Everhart said.

“The license on file was fake,” Everhart said. “She forged it – we couldn’t prove who actually forged it, her or someone on her behalf, but she was behind it.”

A real license number belonging to two actual LPNs is printed on the fake license. Everhart was able to contact one of the nurses, who came to Shelbyville police headquarters. That nurse said she didn’t know Blair or anyone else from Shelbyville.

Blair’s duties included treating minor cuts, bruises and burns,  dispensing medication not requiring a prescription, and other types of minor ailments. “Basically anything not requiring a trip outside the plant,” Everhart said.

No drugs, specifically opioids, were distributed by Blair, according to Everhart.