Drug Diversion in the News

A former nurse pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Boston to diverting opioids from two Massachusetts hospitals. 33-year-old Lisa Tarr, of St. Petersburg, Fla., pleaded guilty to four counts of unlawfully obtaining controlled substances by fraud, deception and subterfuge. U.S. Senior District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock scheduled sentencing for Feb. 7, 2023. Tarr [...]

A former Hilo Medical Center nurse was arrested and charged on suspicion of prescription drug theft and felony drug possession offenses, including fentanyl, according to the Hawaii Prosecuting Attorney’s office. Officials reported that A. Kawamura, 38 years old, was charged with two separate incidents that happened in April earlier this year at Hilo Medical Center. [...]

A Johnstown man was jailed Thursday, accused of stealing drugs from an East Taylor Township pharmacy that once employed him, authorities said. East Taylor Township police charged M. Miller, 48, with three counts each of theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, forgery, receiving stolen property and obstructing law enforcement and drug-related charges. Miller was [...]

RGIS LLC (RGIS) and its affiliated company, Retail Services WIS Corporation (WIS), agreed to pay $158,760 to resolve allegations that they caused violations of the Controlled Substances Act. RGIS and WIS employees were accused of stealing controlled substances from pharmacies in upstate New York and throughout the United States. As part of the settlement, the [...]

A former nurse at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo sentenced by a federal grand jury for tampering with vials of fentanyl. According to court records, the U.S. District Court sentenced 46-year-old Alison Marshall, who pleaded guilty, to five years probation and a $5,000 fine for tampering with a consumer product. Hospital records indicated that Marshall [...]

The Adams County narcotics division arrested K. Woodbury, 36, of Bowman, on Wednesday, Sept. 21 for her alleged theft of prescription opioids from nursing home residents for illegal profit and personal use. Woodbury was an employee of Western Horizons Care Center, where the alleged crimes occurred. Court documents obtained by The Dickinson Press outline that [...]

A Connecticut nurse responsible for sedating patients for outpatient medical procedures was sentenced to two years in federal prison for tampering with drug vials to steal fentanyl according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Bryan Wilson, 40, of Madison was sentenced on Thursday by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to two years in [...]

Allegations of stealing pain medication at two different hospitals in two different cities are not the only legal issues for a now-former nurse who was arrested on Friday. News4JAX has uncovered court documents that show Desiree Lato, 41, of Jacksonville also currently has a vulnerable adult protection injunction against her. The injunction was granted back [...]

A Jacksonville nurse was arrested and accused of stealing medication from the employer for the second time. Desiree Lato, 41, was arrested Friday while working at UF Health Jacksonville and charged with one count of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud. When Lato was arrested at work, she was already out of jail on bond [...]

A former fire rescue chief flight nurse has been arrested on accusations that she stole narcotics. L. Rusinowski, a former Monroe County Fire Rescue chief flight nurse for the Trauma Star helicopter program, was arrested on two counts of grand theft of a controlled substance, two counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and [...]