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A Greenville nurse was fired and was charged with multiple crimes after admitting to stealing liquid fentanyl from her employer.
T. Larsen, 38, was a registered nurse who worked at Michigan Pain Consultants’ Greenville Pain Management Center in Greenville.
According to the administrative complaint from the Michigan Department of Licensing & Regulatory affairs (LARA), on July 24, Greenville Pain Management Center management met with staff, including Larsen, to discuss apparent documentation errors that were found on narcotic count sheets — specifically regarding the administration of fentanyl. Larsen was among the employees whose documentation was at issue.
On Aug. 14, a facility nurse reported that several bottles of fentanyl in the narcotic storage room appeared to have been tampered with and that a box of fentanyl contained numerous empty vials and had been taped shut.
Law enforcement was contacted and the facility was instructed to inventory how much fentanyl was missing. After an inventory was completed, management discovered approximately 70,000 mcg of the drug was missing.
Fentanyl is an opioid schedule 2 controlled substance and is between 50 and 100 times as potent as morphine.
On Aug. 15, management interviewed staff again and conducted an audit of the 2019 narcotic administration records. Management found numerous instances where Larsen documented using a fresh 250 mcg vial for a single procedure when she should have used a 100 mcg vial or remaining fentanyl from another vial that had already been taken from the inventory. Management also reviewed building access records and discovered multiple instances where Larsen had entered the facility after hours, unsupervised. Management also found some of the fentanyl narcotic administration sheets that were reviewed at the July 24 meeting were missing.
On Aug. 20, police interviewed Larsen and she admitted to diverting fentanyl from the facility beginning the winter of 2018 and continuing until July 4, 2019. Larsen said she removed the fentanyl bottles from work, after hours, and administered the fentanyl to herself at home. She threw some of the empty bottles out and filled other empty bottles with saline, glued the cap back on and returned them to facility stock.
Larsen also admitted to altering narcotic administration sheets, stealing some of the administrative records from the July 24 meeting and destroying them to cover up her diversion.
Larsen was then fired from the Greenville Pain Management Center.
On Aug. 23, the Greenville center reported to LARA that Larsen had diverted a significant amount of IV fentanyl from the facility. LARA suspended Larsen’s license.
On Sept. 16, Larsen was arraigned and charged in Montcalm County District Court with larceny in a building, possession of a controlled substance, obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and use of a narcotic, according to the Montcalm County Prosecutor’s Office. She was bound over to Montcalm County Circuit Court on Oct. 17, whereupon the case became non-public.
Larsen has apparently entered a plea as she is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 27 in Circuit Court.
Larsen’s attorney is Ryan Slep of Midland. He did not return a message seeking comment from the Daily News.