Two Colorado nurses held accountable for taking co…

In two separate cases announced together in August 2021, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado said it had held nurses accountable for taking controlled substances from the patients in their care. The office described the conduct as theft of medications from suffering patients.

The cases were investigated by the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations and the DEA, working with federal prosecutors in Denver. The release credits that investigative work with bringing the diversion to light and stopping it.

The press release does not identify the facilities, the specific drugs taken, or the sentences imposed in each case. It states that the theft of medications from patients in these cases has been stopped.

Case at a Glance

Role: Nurses (two separate cases)
Setting: Patient care settings in Colorado
Drug: Controlled substances intended for patients
Outcome: Federal cases resolved by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado

Primary source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-co/pr/colorado-nurses-held-accountable-taking-controlled-substances-patients

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Last reviewed: September 2026 · Educational content, not legal advice.

About the author

DivertGuard is built and maintained by Alex Rodriguez, MHIIM, CPhT (also known as Jesus Rodriguez) — a healthcare compliance analytics professional with more than a decade in pharmacy practice and direct responsibility for a health-system controlled substance diversion prevention program.

IHFDA Annual Conference presentations

2025 — The Rounding Revolution: A High-Tech Approach to Diversion Prevention (with Emily Spiceland, PharmD)
2024 — No Pill Left Behind: Strategies for Comprehensive Drug Accountability (with Eric Andrews)
2022 — Ready for My Close Up! Implementing, Maintaining, and Expanding Drug Diversion Prevention Cameras (with Jeremy Quinn, Shawn Young, and John Bailey)

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Faculty, ASHP Drug Diversion Certificate
Speaker, Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA)
Published author, Pharmacy Purchasing & Products

Credentials

MHIIM — Master of Health Informatics and Information Management, University of Tennessee Health Science Center (2019–2021)
CPhT — Certified Pharmacy Technician, with 10+ years of pharmacy practice across retail, hospice, compounding, home-health, and hospital settings

The assessment items, weighting, and case registry behind this site come from that operational background — building and running a diversion prevention program, not from vendor marketing. Every tool here is free, requires no signup, and is based on published regulatory and professional standards (DEA, Joint Commission, ASHP, CDC).

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Two Colorado nurses held accountable for taking controlled substances from patients