Many seek answers after Kansas City nursing school suddenly closes
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A small pile of mail on the floor is all that remains of Mercy Health Academy. It was once a training school for certified nursing assistants, but it suddenly shut its doors this year, leaving behind frustrated students and thousands of dollars in unpaid bills.
“After she rented for a couple of years, she just stopped paying,” said Gregory Dale, the owner of the building where Mercy Health Academy was renting space.
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Dale told FOX4 Problem Solvers he’s out $30,000 in rent money. He said the owner of Mercy Health Academy, Rebecca Mabior, won’t return his calls. Dale said he’s not only upset about the money, but disappointed that a school for much-needed certified nursing assistants failed.
“I was hoping at some point in time she would stand up to her obligation. As time went by and students were coming to the school and the school wasn’t open, I knew that it was probably something she was never going to pay,” Dale said.
Mabior, who opened Mercy Health Academy four years ago, is a registered nurse in Missouri with a history of not paying her bills, according to court records.
If her name sounds familiar, it’s because she’s from Sudan and was once married to one of the famous lost boys of Sudan who escaped the war-torn country by moving to Kansas City. From outside appearances, Mabior’s life appears to be a success.
Besides becoming a registered nurse and opening her own school, she owns a nearly half-a-million-dollar home in Johnson County.
But somewhere things went wrong. She and her now ex-husband filed bankruptcy in 2012, which discharged thousands of dollars in unpaid bills. But just this year she was sued by the University of Kansas Health System for an unpaid $87 bill.
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That’s besides the $30,000 that Dale said he is owed and the $2,500 she owes to the owner of a nearby strip mall where she moved this year after leaving Dale’s building.
The Missouri Health and Senior Services Department told FOX4 Problem Solvers that 126 people graduated from Mercy Health Academy during the four years of its operation. The Missouri Department of Higher Education said the school’s certification expired June 2023, but Dale said students were still seen at the school as late as last November.
After that, some of those attending started complaining to Dale and those working at the neighboring business that the school’s doors were locked.
“We actually had a mother come to us and say she paid tuition for her daughter and wanted to know what the heck was going on, but no one would call her back,” Dale said.
So, what happened?
To find out, FOX4 Problem Solvers paid Mabior a visit as she sat in her car waiting for her partner to return the key to the last place they rented.
But she wouldn’t roll down the window to the car. So, we went inside the building to talk to her partner.
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“I’m Linda Wagar with FOX4. We have people that are owed money by Rebecca for rent. $30,000 to a dentist and $2,500 here. We also have students that paid to become CNAs who haven’t been able to find Rebecca and the school is now closed, so what’s going on?”
He told us he had no comment.
So, we tried again.
“Is she going to be reimbursing people?”
We were again told “no comment.”
As he and Mabior drove away, some of the people owed money watched – Dale even recorded video of their car on his phone. Dale said he knows he’ll probably never seen his money again – since the person with all the answers isn’t talking.
