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An Alexandria woman pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to repeatedly stealing an opioid while working as a registered nurse at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Pineville.
Jolie King, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of fraudulently obtaining hydromorphone, a pain reliever. King, who no longer works at the VA, admitted taking the drug from the hospital’s Urgent Care Clinic for her own use, according to a release.
King would log into the supply cabinet, take the drug without a physician’s order under random patients’ names, it reads.
“In one instance, in an attempt to avoid detection, she refilled two vials with saline solution and placed them back in the supply cabinet.”
From September 2017 to October 2018, King took 31 vials of hydromorphone and two vials of morphine.
No sentencing date has been set yet, but she faces up to four years in prison and a $250,000 fine.