Case Database
Filter every documented case by date, drug, state, setting, role, prosecution status, and penalty. Search accepts brand or generic drug names, facility names, and cities.
Showing 14 of 730 cases.
| Case / When | Where | Setting | Drug | Method | Role | Prosecution status | Penalty | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Registered nurse sentenced to probation for stealing OxyContin from a hospital narcotics cabinet and replacing it with other medications
2024-05
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South Dakota Canton, SD |
Sanford Canton-Inwood Medical Center | OxyContin | Removed OxyContin from blister packs in a narcotics cabinet and replaced it with melatonin and acetaminophen, resealed the packs, and used the stolen OxyContin for personal use; pleaded guilty to obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception, and subterfuge. | not stated | Pleaded guilty on March 6, 2024; sentenced on May 24, 2024, to two years probation and a $100 special assessment; indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2023. Investigated by the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations and the DEA. | none documented | source |
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Registered nurse convicted of tampering with fentanyl citrate vials and obtaining controlled substance by fraud at Chamberlain hospital
2023-09
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South Dakota Chamberlain, SD |
a hospital in Chamberlain, South Dakota | fentanyl citrate for injection | Tampered with a vial of fentanyl citrate for injection by removing the fentanyl and replacing the majority of it with saline solution, then returned the tampered vial to storage knowing the diluted fentanyl could be dispensed to surgical patients; also obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception, and subterfuge. | not stated | Convicted and sentenced to two years of probation and a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. | none documented | source |
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Hospital nurse tampered with fentanyl vial, replacing drug with saline
2023-09
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South Dakota Pierre, SD |
a Chamberlain hospital | fentanyl citrate | Tampered with a vial of fentanyl citrate stored by the hospital: removed the fentanyl for injection and replaced most of it with saline solution, then returned the tampered vial to storage knowing the diluted fentanyl could be dispensed to surgical patients for severe pain. | not stated | Sentenced to two years of probation on September 11, 2023, for obtaining a controlled substance. | none documented | source |
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South Dakota hospital ambulance fentanyl vials found filled with saline; no suspect identified
2022-11
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South Dakota | hospital-based ambulance service, Brookings, South Dakota | fentanyl (two vials found filled with normal saline) | not stated | unidentified; no suspect identified as of the inspection | not stated | none documented | source |
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South Dakota pharmacy technician diverted medications from employer pharmacy
2021-09-16
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South Dakota Sioux Falls, South Dakota |
Registered pharmacy technician, employer pharmacy in Sioux Falls, SD | not stated | not stated | not stated | not stated | none documented | source |
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South Dakota hospital nurse convicted of tampering with fentanyl vials and replacing contents with saline
2021-08
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South Dakota Chamberlain, SD |
a hospital in Chamberlain, South Dakota | fentanyl citrate for injection | removed fentanyl citrate for injection from a vial and replaced the majority of it with saline solution, then returned the tampered vial to storage | not stated | convicted of Obtaining a Controlled Substance by Misrepresentation, Fraud, Forgery, Deception, and Subterfuge; sentenced to two years of probation and a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund | none documented | source |
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South Dakota ICU nurse's lawsuit over termination for fentanyl discrepancies rejected on appeal
2020-06-17
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South Dakota | Hospital in Minnehaha County, South Dakota | Fentanyl; also unaccounted lorazepam and hydromorphone | not stated | Registered nurse, intensive care unit | not stated | none documented | source |
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South Dakota ICU nurse fired after fentanyl accountability review; wrongful-discharge suit fails on appeal
2020-06-17
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South Dakota | hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota | fentanyl, lorazepam (Ativan) and hydromorphone unaccounted for | not stated | registered nurse, intensive care unit | not stated | none documented | source |
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ICU nurse at a Sioux Falls hospital accused of diverting fentanyl, lorazepam and hydromorphone after medication records review
2020-06
|
South Dakota Sioux Falls, SD |
Avera McKennan Hospital | fentanyl, lorazepam (Ativan), hydromorphone | Alleged diversion: a medication log review showed an atypically high fentanyl removal rate; a review of 16 charts found 12 areas of concern, including unaccounted amounts of 275 micrograms of fentanyl and 3 milligrams each of lorazepam and hydromorphone, and 66 of 669 medications not scanned as administered or wasted. | not stated | Terminated in 2016; sued for wrongful discharge, breach of contract and defamation; circuit court granted the hospital summary judgment, upheld by the South Dakota Supreme Court; the Board of Nursing investigated and ordered counseling, while other reported agencies took no action. | none documented | source |
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South Dakota medication aide charged with hydrocodone possession in 2017 health care fraud sweep
2017-07-13
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South Dakota | not specified in release; one of two cases in Yankton County and Turner County | hydrocodone | not stated | medication aide | not stated | none documented | source |
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South Dakota medication aide charged with ingesting a substance to become intoxicated in 2017 health care fraud sweep
2017-07-13
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South Dakota | not specified in release; one of two cases in Yankton County and Turner County | not specified (substance other than alcohol) | not stated | medication aide | not stated | none documented | source |
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Pharmacy licensee in Mitchell, SD diverted prescription drugs for personal use and received three-year probation
2014-09
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South Dakota Mitchell, SD |
Pharmacy | prescription drugs | Diverted prescription drugs for personal use; violated laws and rules governing pharmacy practice. | not stated | Three-year probation effective September 29, 2014; required continued participation in a monitored program for health professionals, quarterly reports to the Board, and passage of the Multistate Pharmacy Jurisprudence Exam before completing probation. | none documented | source |
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Sisseton pharmacy technician pleaded guilty to health care fraud over hydrocodone theft
2011-11-28
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South Dakota | Tribal health care center, Sisseton, South Dakota | Hydrocodone (approximately 10 pills) | not stated | Pharmacy technician | not stated | none documented | source |
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South Dakota tribal health center pharmacy technician sentenced after hydrocodone theft plea
2011-05-16
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South Dakota | Indian Health Service health care center, Sisseton, South Dakota | Hydrocodone | not stated | Pharmacy technician | not stated | none documented | source |
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What each column does and doesn't cover
Every case states When (date) and Where (state) — 730 of 730. Beyond that, a blank cell means the source record does not state that fact, not that it did not happen:
- Setting: stated in 649 of 730 cases (89%)
- Drug: stated in 657 of 730 cases (90%)
- Method: stated in 474 of 730 cases (65%)
- Prosecution status: stated in 474 of 730 cases (65%); a documented penalty (fine, settlement, or restitution) exists for 77 of 730 cases (11%)
- Role: stated in only 255 of 730 cases (35%) — filtering or sorting by role silently hides the rest of the registry, which may still describe the same role in prose without a structured field
Why: documented failure modes
A separate text analysis of the 723 case summaries found 371 cases (51.3%) matching at least one named failure-mode pattern below. 352 cases (48.7% of 723) matched none of these categories - most of these are short board-order summaries ("licensee diverted controlled substances from their employer") that state an outcome without describing a mechanism, not cases where no failure occurred. A case can match zero, one, or several categories — these are corpus-level counts, not a per-case tag, and are not used as a row filter above: reproducing the exact category membership per case from the stored patterns did not exactly match this file's hand-curated counts on independent re-check, so no individual case here is labeled with a "why" that this code cannot verify.
Text names an act of replacing/refilling the drug with a named substitute (saline, water, an OTC pill, a cleaning product, etc.), OR uses swap/dilute/tamper to describe the same act, so the altered container went back into use looking unchanged.
Text uses stole/stealing/embezzled to describe removal of controlled substances.
Text uses a form of "falsif-" within 60 characters of a record-type noun (chart, inventory, transaction, receipt, prescription, etc.).
Text explicitly characterizes the prescription(s) as fraudulent, forged, invalid, or issued outside legitimate medical practice (including "pill mill" language).
Text names an automated dispensing cabinet/machine, or the acronym ADC, as part of the mechanism.
Text describes recording or claiming drug as "waste" (when it was not), pulling drug from a waste stream, or wastage that was not independently witnessed.
Text describes cancelling, voiding, or falsely entering a system transaction (an order, a return-to-stock entry, a cancel entry) specifically to conceal a removal.
Text states the FACILITY (not an individual concealing personal use) failed to maintain required inventory/records, or names a recordkeeping violation/negligent recordkeeping as the basis for the government action.
Text describes using a fictitious patient profile, a false name/identity, stolen patient information, or impersonating a licensed prescriber to obtain the drug.
Text states a failure to notify or report a loss, theft, or suspected diversion to a regulator.
Disclaimer
Case summaries are based on public records (DOJ press releases, court documents, news reports). Charges are allegations unless a conviction is noted. Analysis is educational, not legal advice.
Last reviewed: September 2026 · Content is educational, not legal advice.