What Happened
A nurse at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in White River Junction pleaded guilty in federal court to stealing drugs prescribed to patients and consuming them herself over a roughly eight-month period.
She was charged with two counts of diverting drugs from psychiatric ward patients and tampering with the medications to conceal her use, and the plea agreement states she diverted controlled substances in a variety of ways According to one count, she removed amphetamine/dextroamphetamine from capsules, separated them in half and administered the empty and nearly empty capsules to patients; to conceal her consumption she replaced tablets with hydroxyzine, an antihistamine. The second count states she knowingly and intentionally acquired amphetamine/dextroamphetamine and methylphenidate by misrepresentation, fraud, deception and subterfuge, and her plea agreement stipulates forfeiture of her nursing license.
What the Record Shows
Pleaded guilty in federal court to two counts of diverting drugs and tampering with medications; plea agreement stipulates forfeiture of her nursing license and sentencing is scheduled.
Why It Matters for Diversion Programs
This entry comes from a news source rather than a federal enforcement release, and it is recorded as reported: Diverted controlled substances prescribed to psychiatric ward patients for her own use over a roughly eight-month period, removing amphetamine/dextroamphetamine from capsules, separating them and administering the empty or nearly empty capsules to patients; replaced the tablets with hydroxyzine to conceal her consumption of the diverted drugs, and acquired stimulants by misrepresentation, fraud, deception and subterfuge.. Board and news records are a lagging indicator - by the time a licensing authority or a reporter learns of a diversion, the diversion was normally detected internally first, which makes each entry a signal that inventory reconciliation, waste observation or dispensing oversight failed earlier.