Nurses Arrested for Stealing Pain Meds from Elderly Patients

Two nurses at a nursing home in Boynton Beach have been arrested after they allegedly stole drugs intended for ailing elderly patients and swapped them with Tylenol tablets, according to arrest reports.

The thefts left multiple patients at Hamlin Place of Boynton Beach in pain after they did not receive their proper medications, the reports said.

One nurse of Boynton Beach is facing drug-trafficking charges as well as accusations of fraud, grand theft and elderly abuse. This nurse, who was the facility’s assistant director of nursing, is being held at the Palm Beach County Jail in lieu of $326,000 bail.

The other nurse of Royal Palm Beach and a registered nurse at Hamlin, is facing charges of larceny, fraud, possession of controlled substances and elderly abuse and was released from jail Saturday after posting a $12,000 bond.

According to an investigation that included the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, the Drug Enforcement Administration and state law enforcement, the assistant director of nursing and the registered nurse stole 905 tablets of controlled substances — mostly Percocet and oxycodone — with a value of $515.

The thefts were first reported to Boynton Beach police in May. The assistant director of nursing, the registered nurse, and a third person who has not been arrested were drug-tested and suspended by Hamlin Place after the thefts were reported.

One alleged victim told investigators that she spent two months at Hamlin, on Hypoluxo Road west of High Ridge Road, recovering from neck surgery and said that she did not feel much relief after taking pain medication and that her discomfort often got worse. The report states that several patients whose pain medication may have been altered could not be interviewed because of their conditions.

The assistant director of nursing told police in December that he had an addiction to opiates before he was hired at Hamlin Palce in May 2015. He said that he and the registered nurse had been stealing prescription pain medications for “the last few months” before they were caught.

The registered nurse told investigators that the assistant director of nursing was a friend who hired her at Hamlin in about September 2015 after she was fired from another nursing home. The registered nurse said she stole medication from her elderly patients for five months and that she usually gave the assistant director of nursing 10 to 15 pills a day and kept two to four for herself.