This post was originally published on this site
JaynesLINCOLNTON, NC (WBTV) –
A nurse who worked at a Lincolnton care center is accused of stealing prescription drugs from her work place with the intent to sell them.
According to warrants, 37-year-old Wendy Faye Jaynes worked at the Cardinal Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center on North Aspen Street in Lincolnton as a nurse. The warrants stated Jaynes allegedly stole 48 units of Alprazolam and 28 doses of Oxycodone Hydrocloride, both considered controlled substances.
Police Chief Rodney Jordan says investigators started to get reports of missing pills in February, but were unable to pinpoint exactly what was happening and who may have been involved. On Tuesday, a officer spotted a car alongside a road that he felt should not be there and approached it as a suspicious vehicle. Jordan says the officer reportedly spotted Jaynes in the vehicle with the pills in plain sight.
The pills were destined for patients at the facility. Jaynes “unlawfully, willfully and feloniously did possess with the intent to sell and deliver a controlled substance,” the warrant states.
Investigators are still looking into what happened and trying to determine how long it may have been going on and whether anyone else was involved.
Officials with the parent company of the Cardinal facility, Consulate Health Care, released a statement saying the company is cooperating with local and state agencies “to ensure that all protocols are in place to ensure the safety and well-being of our patients and residents, which is always our top priority.”
The company would not comment further and said it was “an on-going investigation.”
Jaynes faces drug charges, a charge of larceny by employee and possession with intent to sell. She took the drugs “with the intent to steal and to defraud” her employer, the warrant says.
Jaynes remains in jail and her court date is scheduled for August 8.
Officials with the company would not comment on her current employment status.
Copyright 2017 WBTV. All rights reserved.