"Nun on the run" mental health counselor Colleen Higgins sentenced to prison for bilking patients

October 26, 2011

On or about September 13, 2011, Georgia mental health counselor Colleen Higgins was sentenced to four years in prison for bilking clients out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

From 2007 through 2009, Higgins “borrowed” $277,500 from at least eight clients who loaned her amounts from $2,500 to $90,000.

In July 2009, the Georgia Composite Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers and Marriage and Family Therapists issued a Notice of Hearing on Higgins for August 18, 2009.

Higgins eventually fled the state, briefly surfacing in a convent in California and then in Iowa, where she was arrested in 2010. The state of Georgia revoked her license in November 2009.

Source: David Ibata, "Fulton counseling admits bilking clients, gets prison," Atlanta Journal Constitution, September 13, 2011 and Final Decision in the Matter of Colleen M. Higgins, License No. LPC001012, Before the Georgia Composite Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers and Marriage and Family Therapists.