Career Care Institute Lawsuits: Fraud, Harassment & ABHES Fight

Career Care Institute, a for-profit healthcare trade school in Southern California, has been the subject of several lawsuits and regulatory actions since 2008, including a federal accreditation battle, a student fraud suit, a sexual harassment case brought against a campus director, and repeated state nursing board citations over low licensing pass rates. The school remains open as of 2026 and operates three campuses in Lancaster, Moreno Valley, and Oxnard.¹

The 2008 Accreditation Fight with ABHES

The most consequential legal dispute in CCI’s history began in November 2008, when the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools issued a final decision withdrawing the school’s accreditation. ABHES cited “a number of areas of noncompliance” with its standards and found that CCI had advertised its Moreno Valley campus as accredited when it was not, calling that a “violation of advertising and ethical practices standards.”²

The stakes were high. Accreditation is a prerequisite for students to receive federal financial aid, so losing it would have effectively closed the school. CCI sued ABHES in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (Case No. 1:08cv1186), raising seven causes of action including denial of common law due process, breach of contract, negligence, tortious interference with CCI’s federal program participation agreement and student enrollment agreements, tortious interference with prospective business advantage, and breach of a separate settlement agreement.³

Two consent orders kept CCI accredited during the litigation. In March 2009, the court dismissed the negligence claim (holding that tort damages weren’t available for a negligent breach of contract) and the prospective-advantage claim, with leave to amend, but allowed the rest to proceed.³ The parties settled on confidential terms in early 2009. ABHES re-accredited the Moreno Valley campus that August. When the ABHES accreditation expired in December 2010, CCI transitioned to national accreditation through the Council on Occupational Education, which it still holds.²

The 2011 Student Fraud Lawsuit

Kimberly Leonard, a 40-year-old Lake Elsinore resident and former CCI student, sued the school in 2011 for $170,000. She said she had been induced to enroll through false advertising and left with $30,000 in student loan debt and no meaningful credential.²

Her allegations echoed complaints from other students at the time. Leonard said CCI claimed to hold “the highest accreditation possible” while it was actually at risk of losing accreditation, that the school altered her financial aid application without her knowledge, and that instructors falsified clinical hours by sending students home early while giving full credit. Other students complained that CCI credits were treated as non-transferable and worthless by other schools.²

The school’s website at the time promoted “100 percent passing rate with assured job placement.” CCI’s actual NCLEX pass rate in 2010 was 58 percent, below the state averages for private schools (67 percent) and public schools (89 percent). School spokesman Marc Hodges denied the allegations, called them “unfounded,” and described Leonard as a “disgruntled student.”² The outcome of Leonard’s suit was not reported.

The 2010 Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

In November 2010, a former dental assistant student sued CCI in Ventura County Superior Court alleging sexual harassment by campus director Shawn Carrasco, the son of CEO Edmund Carrasco.⁴

The complaint alleged that Shawn Carrasco coerced the plaintiff into performing oral sex by threatening to remove her from the program, fabricated disciplinary issues against her, scheduled her for class times he knew she could not attend because of childcare, sent unwanted text messages, and offered to pay her tuition in exchange for sexual favors. She brought claims for quid pro quo harassment, hostile environment harassment, and retaliation, and sought punitive damages. The suit named the school rather than the Carrascos individually, but alleged that Edmund Carrasco knew his son had harassed other students and teachers and continued to employ him.⁴ The outcome of the case does not appear in the available record.

State Nursing Board Citations

CCI’s vocational nursing program has drawn repeated attention from the California Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians. A May 2024 BVNPT report found the Moreno Valley program’s average annual NCLEX pass rate was 69 percent, compared to a statewide average of 86 percent. The 17-point gap put the campus out of compliance with a state rule requiring programs to stay within 10 percentage points of the state average.⁵

Quarterly results swung sharply. Only one of six Moreno Valley candidates passed the NCLEX in the April–June 2023 quarter, a 17 percent rate; by the January–March 2024 quarter, the rate had recovered to 88 percent. A February 2024 inspection also found two violations: the program had been using an unauthorized “Admission by Exception” policy and was inconsistent about student remediation forms and returning corrected assignments. Both were corrected. The BVNPT granted continued approval for four years starting February 2024, but with conditions: CCI must submit a comprehensive analysis report, obtain board approval before admitting each new class, and show incremental improvement in pass rates. The board warned that failure could lead to revocation of program approval.⁵

BVNPT figures updated in February 2026 show 2025 pass rates of 91 percent at Lancaster, 89 percent at Moreno Valley, and 82 percent at Oxnard.⁶

Is Career Care Institute Still Open?

Yes. CCI reported total enrollment of 1,019 students in its 2023 annual report to California’s Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education and reported no final disciplinary actions from its accrediting agency during that reporting year.⁷ The school participates in Title IV federal financial aid, veterans’ benefits, and the Cal Grant program, holds national accreditation from the Council on Occupational Education, and maintains programmatic approvals from the BVNPT, the California Board of Registered Nursing, and the state’s Radiologic Health Branch.⁸ Edmund Carrasco remains president and CEO.⁹

1
Career Care Institute. Programs
2
The Press-Enterprise. Moreno Valley Nursing College Students Complain
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CaseMine. Career Care Institute v. ABHES, No. 1:08cv1186
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Courthouse News Service. College Exec Abused His Power for Sex and His Daddy Is the CEO, Woman Says
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Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians. BVNPT Meeting Materials – Career Care Institute Moreno Valley
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Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians. VN Pass Rates
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Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education. CCI Annual Report
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Career Care Institute. About CCI
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Better Business Bureau. Career Care Institute BBB Profile