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April Beckler, 39, has been held in the Ward County Jail for months. Her bond had been lowered in November to a percentage bond requiring her to post $250, or 10 percent of $2,500, but she hasn’t been able to pay that bond.
Beckler told Judge Todd Cresap on Thursday that her parents have been paying the rent on her apartment in Fargo. Beckler said she lives in Fargo now, where she has a support system, and knows better than to not show up for court. She said her father had been a police officer so “I know better.”
Cresap then questioned why her parents were willing to pay more than $1,000 for rent but not $250 for bond.
“If the family isn’t willing to post the bond right now, perhaps they think the best place for her to be is where she’s at,” Ward County Assistant State’s Attorney Marie Miller told the judge.
Beckler and her co-defendant, Kim Kochel, allegedly committed the crimes because of drug addiction.
Beckler’s defense attorney, Eric Baumann, said it isn’t really appropriate to speculate on why her parents have not posted the bond. He pointed out that Beckler has been in jail for more than 90 days. Baumann said she has no significant criminal record and that is probably the amount of time she would be sentenced to if there is a conviction in the case. Baumann said Beckler turned herself in to authorities. Her family apparently encouraged her to do so.
Miller disputed Baumann’s estimation of the length of Beckler’s possible sentence, but acknowledged that Beckler’s preliminary hearing was being continued Thursday through no fault of her own. The state’s attorney’s office has not yet provided discovery information for the case to the defense. A hearing was also continued for Beckler’s co-defendant, Kochel, 45, on Thursday for the same reason. Miller said the delay in providing discovery was due to lack of time. She promised to get the discovery information to the defense soon even if she has to work over the Christmas holiday to do it.
Cresap said Thursday he would give Beckler an unsecured appearance bond of $2,500, meaning she doesn’t have to pay any money to bond out but would be required to pay that amount if she failed to appear for a hearing. Cresap also ordered Beckler to participate in the 24/7 Sobriety Program and to wear a drug patch. He said he wants the assurance of drug testing since drug addiction has been alleged as a problem in this case.
Beckler and Kochel are accused of stealing drugs prescribed for hospice patients between December 2012 and Sept. 8, 2014, according to the probable cause affidavit filed with North Central District Court. Beckler and Kochel are also charged with endangering a patient by diluting medication or giving morphine instead of the more potent hydromorphine that was prescribed to manage pain. Beckler and Kochel are both charged with Class B felony endangering a vulnerable adult, with Class C felony theft of property, and conspiring to steal drugs, a Class C felony.
Beckler and Kochel were reported to the North Dakota Board of Nursing in 2014 and voluntarily surrendered their licenses after admitting to the allegations that were under investigation by the board, according to the affidavit.
A woman who had worked as a hospice nurse at the same time as Beckler and Kochel told police on March 1 that Beckler had made a confession to her in September 2014. Beckler allegedly confessed that her role in the thefts started after she and Kochel worked together after a patient died. They brought the unused medication back to the office and both ingested the medication. She then began using the medication herself and had been doing so for more than a year.
Further investigation was done this year by a supervisor and pharmacy director at Trinity Hospital into the medical and pharmacy records of 104 patients that were cared for by Beckler and Kochel. The investigation turned up multiple instances of “drug diversions” or drug thefts by one or both women.