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ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHAM) – A Rochester woman was arrested Monday after attorneys said she posed as a hospital employee to steal narcotics.

According to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, 34-year-old Siobhan Pollock had recently been fired from Strong Memorial Hospital while working as an RN.

Court documents show Strong Hospital relies on a machine called Pyxis to safely store and dispense medications to hospital personnel.

It’s the same system police say nurse Pollock used to take medications for her own use. Police say a nurse manager got wind of the situation and fired her.

“When you told me that, I was shocked.” neighbor Elisabeth Wechsler said. “I had no idea. It’s crazy.”

Pollock allegedly went back to the hospital, wearing her scrubs, and convinced another nurse to give her a syringe of Dialudid, a prescription narcotic. She then allegedly took the syringe into a bathroom, removed the drug, and refilled the syringe with tap water. She then returned the water-filled replacement syringe to the medication cart.

“Impersonating a health care worker after being fired in order to steal drugs to feed one’s own addiction is reprehensible and dangerous,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “People rely on nurses to be professional and trustworthy. My office will always seek to bring to justice those who exploit the health care profession – and vulnerable patients – for personal gain.”

Pollock was charged with felony criminal possession of a controlled substance 5th, criminal possession of a controlled substance 7th, and criminal impersonation 2nd. The investigation was conducted by the New York State Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

She faces two and a half years in prison if convicted.

UR Medicine issued a statement in response to the arrest Monday afternoon:

Our highest priority is our patients’ care and well-being. We work to ensure that all staff members are fully trained to handle medications appropriately, and to speak up if they see a potential quality or safety issue of any kind. Following this instance, we reviewed with staff that controlled substances should not be handed over from one staff member to another, other than in a true emergency.

Technology assists our efforts around safe use of medications. Like many large hospitals across the nation, we use a computerized medication dispensing system that keeps medications locked and secure, supports accurate dispensing of medication to patients, and maintains an electronic record every time an authorized staff member enters the system. Fortunately, instances of drug diversion are rare; our computerized drug management system and our staff’s professionalism create a deterrent to help keep our patients safe.

13WHAM reached out to Pollock, who declined comment. We have yet to hear back from her lawyer.