Ashville Nurse Sentenced On Warren County Drug Charges – Jamestown Post Journal

Stacey A. Grimes, of Ashville was sentenced by Judge Gregory Hammond in Warren County Court last week to three months to two years minus one day in jail plus four years of consecutive probation.

Grimes must also pay $7,000 in fines, $825 in fees, undergo a DNA test, a drug and alcohol evaluation, an 18-month drivers license suspension, and 90 hours of community service, for possession of a controlled substance, conspiracy — possession of a controlled substance, and identity theft.

“I’m very sorry for what I did,” Grimes said. “I do realize that I have an addiction. It completely took over my rational thinking. I’ve been clean since December 2016.”

Grimes’ attorney, Eric Mikovch, said she has attended numerous meetings in an attempt to overcome her addiction and voluntarily surrendered her license to practice nursing in Pennsylvania. He requested a sentence heavy on probation.

Warren County District Attorney Rob Greene said the case was a difficult one. “I think jail time would be appropriate in any case like this,” he said. “If this case doesn’t put an exclamation point on the drug problem we have in this country, I don’t know what does.”

He said Grimes’ actions contributed to the problem.

Hammond cut through the prior record argument. “It was an 11-month scheme,” he said. “You have a pretty bad 11-month history.”

Grimes used her position to prescribe “dose after dose” — 20 prescriptions of 60 pills each — of opioids to a co-conspirator and split the pills, Hammond said. “You seemed motivated to get your half of the pills” without showing concern for the effects on the co-conspirator.

He said Grimes stole the identity of a woman — name, Social Security number, and date of birth — to collect a prescription. That woman was denied a refill of an antibiotic because the pharmacy had a record of her receiving the opioid, he said.

Hammond also did not accept the argument that Grimes had shown an effort to turn around by surrendering her Pennsylvania license. Grimes continued to be employed as a nurse practitioner — without the ability to prescribe opioids — in New York state. “I don’t know how you can go one state away and maintain your job after violating your oath for 11 months,” he said.

“I don’t need to tell you, as a professional, the devastating effects of opioid abuse,” Hammond said. “The only difference between you and a street dealer… is they’re not violating their professional oath and they don’t have your training and experience to know the effects of abusing the medications.”