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Authorities said K. C. Belcher, 39, of 10 Howard Ave. in Westminster, withdrew the medications from a drug dispensing machine at the Leominster hospital between August and November of last year, according to court documents.
Belcher was placed on paid administrative leave on Nov. 11, when hospital officials discovered the surgical nurse withdrew 34 oxycodone pills from the dispensing machine without documentation showing the medication had been prescribed to a patient, according to court documents.
The incident prompted authorities to audit Belcher and look into her history with the drug-dispensing machine, according to court documents.
Court documents show that an investigator from the Drug Enforcement Agency met with hospital officials as far back as Jan. 2016.
The audit showed that between August and November 2016, Belcher withdrew 52 tablets of Percocet, 43 tablets of oxycodone, 21 tablets of Vicodin, three tablets of clonazepam, two tablets of morphine, along with liquid morphine and oxycodone, according to court documents.
Using a computer code linked to her nursing identification, Belcher withdrew several of the drugs using the names of patients who had already been discharged or moved to another floor on the hospital, according to court documents.
In other instances, Belcher used an override code to withdraw drugs from the machine without a physician’s prescription, according to court documents.
Belcher has resigned from the position she had held for a decade, according to court documents, and Chief Nursing Officer Mary Fortunato-Habib said no patients were harmed by her actions.
Belcher, who told investigators in February that she lives with her parents in Westminster where she shares custody of her young children, has admitted she struggles with substance abuse and said she did not distribute the drugs.
According to court documents, she canceled an interview with an investigator with the State Police Diversion Investigation Unit that had been scheduled for Feb. 16 of this year.
Belcher apparently agreed to attend a drug rehabilitation program after she was confronted about the missing drugs in November, according to court document, but had not enrolled as of mid-February.
She was arraigned in District Court on Wednesday on one count of obtaining drugs fraudulently and was released on a personal promise to reappear.
Belcher is due back in court for her pretrial hearing on June 7.
A spokeswoman for HealthAlliance hospital declined to comment on the case.