According to the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Department of Health Professions, Kateresea L. Ford L.P.C. was convicted of a felony due to health care fraud. She was convicted of one count of health care fraud, and the forfeiture allegation of related property. This is a recent case, and she was convicted in July 2015. After being convicted, she was in jail for two months from July 2015 until September 2015, and is now on probation for three years. She is required to pay $81,000 in restitution, and since she was convicted of a felony her license was suspended. The suspension of her license is automatic when a licensed professional is convicted of a felony. She has the opportunity to get her license back, but would have to petition the board of counseling for reinstatement.
There are many reasons why counselors engage in unethical behavior. There are some people even after they swear to uphold ethical standards do not perform ethically. Eventually, these people will get caught, but maybe after many years of practicing unethically. Unfortunately, some professionals
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As a future counselor, I couldn’t imagine not upholding the ethical standards and let alone commit a crime. Once a counselor or professional has a bad reputation it will never go away. Her crime that she committed will always be public for people to see. If she ever were to go to the board to petition her license back, I feel she will never be successful again. Now, people can look up all the details they want about a counselor before they got to them. Her public record of her crime will be in public view, and people would not want to go to a counselor that they cannot trust. Also, if she were to get relicensed and continue counseling she would probably never get hired. Agencies and other private practices will not be able to trust her. If she were to get hired she would just have to be closely