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(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Stillwater woman has been charged with stealing pain medications from six residents of Renaissance of Stillwater — one month after she was employed, court records show.
An arrest warrant was issued last week for Neva Carol Meadows, 52, who was not in the Payne County Jail today, a sheriff’s spokesman told KUSH.
Meadows was ultimately terminated after declining to submit to a urine test, Stillwater Police Detective Sherae LeJeune wrote in an affidavit.
On May 25 shortly before 5 p.m. the administrator of Renaissance of Stillwater “reported a possible larceny of prescription medication from their facility,” the detective wrote in an affidavit.
Two employees “noticed there were several residents’ narcotics signed out by employee Neva Meadows. Most of the narcotics had not been taken in several months,” the affidavit alleged.
“These residents were to be given their prescribed narcotics at their request. The records showed they were given during the overnight shift when the patients were sleeping, some of which were given an hour apart.
“The records showed some dosages were given on a daily basis,” the affidavit said.
“Meadows began working at Renaissance of Stillwater in mid-April. The suspicious activity began mid-May during Meadows’ overnight shift,” the affidavit alleged.
The employees who noted the activity both had worked at the facility for over a year and had previously been on the overnight shift, but were now on the day shift, the affidavit said.
“They advised they have become familiar with the residents’ activities and narcotic usage. They advised the residents never request their narcotics in the middle of the night when they were sleeping.
“It was the responsibility of day shift to provide their medications throughout the daytime,” the affidavit said.
The employees “asked some of the above-listed residents (in the affidavit) if they have been taking their prescription in the middle of the night. They advised they did not ask for their prescription and have not received any,” the affidavit alleged.
When the Stillwater police detective went to Meadows’ residence on June 7, “She requested we sit outside on the front porch,” the detective wrote in her affidavit.
“I asked Meadows if she knew why I was visiting her. She stated it was because of the issues at her old job,” the detective wrote in her affidavit.
“Meadows initially denied taking the pills for herself. She said the residents requested them during her shift. I presented Meadows with the information I obtained from the individual patient’s narcotics records and other staff’s observations.
“I told her I believed she took the pills for personal use. Meadows then admitted to taking the pills for self-medication due to chronic pain she was experiencing.
“She advised she consumed the pills the next day after she woke up from a shift. She did not stockpile them and did not have any more in her possession. Meadows filled out a statement admitting to taking the residents’ prescribed medications,” the detective alleged in her affidavit.
During the interview, “The setting was very informal and Meadows was never detained. I presented myself in jeans, t-shirt and my gun was concealed,” the detective wrote in her affidavit.
The detective believed Meadows had taken a total of 40 hydrocodone/acetaminophen pills between May 11 and May 24, as well as two Tramadol pills and one Clonazepam pill on May 23, according to her affidavit.
If convicted of larceny of a controlled drug, Meadows could be given as much as a 10-year prison term and a $10,000 fine, court records show.
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