Former Nurse Accused of Stealing Pain Meds

A former nurse who worked at the Meadows at East Mountain is facing up to two years in prison after law-enforcement said she took a card of painkillers intended for a patient and used them herself because of a drug addiction.

[Deidentified], 40, of Poultney, pleaded not guilty on Monday in Rutland criminal court to a felony charge of obtaining a regulated drug by fraud.

[Deidentified] was released without bail and ordered not to have any regulated drugs without a valid prescription.

The charges against [Deidentified] were based on an affidavit written by Detective Michael Warren, of the Secretary of State’s Office of Professional Regulation.

Warren said Melissa Greenfield, executive director of the Meadows, had filed a complaint with OPR on Oct. 9. against [Deidentified] for “unprofessional conduct.”

“Specifically, Ms. Greenfield reported that [Deidentified] had stolen an entire card containing 28 oxycodone (5 milligram) pills from a resident at the facility. [Deidentified] was terminated as a result of the theft following an investigation by the facility,” Warren wrote in the affidavit.

Oxycodone is a semi-synthetic opioid pain medication.

Greenfield told Warren, also on Oct. 9, that Meadows administrators had surveillance video that seemed to show [Deidentified] putting a pill that she had allegedly crushed up into her pocket.

Warren said he went to Rutland County, also on Oct. 9, and spoke to [Deidentified] at her Poultney home.

Warren said he told [Deidentified] he had worked for the Burlington Police Department for more than 20 years and understood opiate addiction, which “is not an easy addiction to overcome.”

The affidavit said [Deidentified] initially denied having an addiction and taking the pills, but later told investigators she was “scared that it has gotten to this point.”

Warren reported that [Deidentified] said she had been prescribed painkillers after a car crash in 2017. She admitted to an addiction, the affidavit stated.

Warren said he asked where the pills were and [Deidentified] said she had taken them all since the day she allegedly stole them, on Oct. 3, and the day of the interview on Oct. 9.

According to the affidavit, Warren followed up, saying law-enforcement officers generally see people in the medical profession who have an addiction taking one or two pills the first time they steal pharmaceutical medications. But [Deidentified] said she had taken the 28 pills, Warren said.

“I asked Ms. [Deidentified] why she would do something so obvious, knowing that she would probably get caught, and she said it was her addiction clouding her rational thought process. [Deidentified] said she didn’t know who she could go to, (whom) she could trust and tell about her addiction,” Warren wrote.

[Deidentified] said she had never before compromised patient care and said she didn’t use any of the oxycodone she allegedly stole while working.

“[Deidentified] said she had always medicated her patients correctly and there was never a point where her addiction put any residents at risk. [Deidentified] said she also never used any pain medication while at work, only when she was at home,” Warren said in the affidavit.

In addition to the criminal charges, staff from the OPR Board of Nursing filed a request on Nov. 19 to suspend [Deidentified] ’ license which had been issued July 2.

A filing on the secretary of state’s website dated Dec. 4 said [Deidentified] had agreed to an indefinite suspension of her license as a licensed practical nurse.