Nurse in DeBrodie case surrenders license

A former nurse employed by Second Chance Homes surrendered her nursing license Monday, according to a settlement with the Missouri State Board of Nursing.

Melissa DeLap, 49, of Columbia pleaded guilty to health care fraud in August. She faces up to 10 years in prison without parole. She was also ordered to surrender her nursing license within six months and is not allowed to renew her license in any state or U.S. territory, according to the office of the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri .

Second Chance Homes of Fulton contracted DeLap to do face-to-face evaluations of four of its clients, according to the Western District office. One of the four clients was DeBrodie, whose body was found encased in concrete in a Fulton storage unit in April 2017. Five people were charged in that criminal investigation.

DeLap completed and signed health evaluation paperwork for DeBrodie from the time he disappeared in September 2016 to March 2017, the U.S. attorney’s office said. The paperwork claimed DeLap had done a face-to-face evaluation of DeBrodie once a month, the release said.

She was interviewed by Fulton police shortly after DeBrodie was found April 2017. She told them she had “no doubt” she had seen DeBrodie in March of that year. She said that DeBrodie had lost some weight but had been slowly gaining it back, and she had used a stethoscope on him

The statements were false, federal investigators say, because DeBrodie was already dead by March.

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