This post was originally published on this site
A former Billings nurse has been sentenced to five years on probation, including six months of house arrest, for stealing a powerful opioid from a hospital for his own use.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says U.S. District Judge Susan Watters sentenced 33-year-old Donald Friedlich Mills II Nov. 2.
Mills pleaded guilty in May to fraudulently obtaining fentanyl and tampering with consumer products. Prosecutors say Mills took fentanyl from vials at Billings Clinic and replaced it with a saline solution in February and March 2017.
Tests showed 15 of the 22 packages believed to have been tampered with contained no fentanyl at all.
U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme says Mills’ actions put patients at risk of not having their severe pain properly treated.
The Montana Board of Nursing suspended Mills’ license in March 2017 and revoked it three months later.