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An area woman accused of stealing — then using — a powerful drug while working as a nurse at Mayo Clinic has been sentenced to a year in jail, stayed for two years.
Tiffany Marie Gustafson, 32, of Sargeant, was charged in March with 10 counts of felony theft, amended last month to include one count of felony fifth-degree drug possession.
She pleaded guilty Friday in Olmsted County District Court to the possession charge and one count of theft and was immediately sentenced to 365 days in jail, stayed for two years, and five years of probation.
Gustafson was also ordered to complete a chemical dependency evaluation/treatment, 100 hours of community work service and to pay fees and restitution in the amount of $138.46.
The investigation began Dec. 14, when the Rochester Drug Diversion and Investigation Response Team received a call from a local pharmacist about a registered nurse — Gustafson — he suspected was diverting Fentanyl, a pain medication 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.
A review of a computer-based system that nurses use to sign out medication and correlating patient records indicated Gustafson had stolen at least 81 vials of Fentanyl in the past month, the complaint says.
Based on the computer records, patient records and Gustafson’s employment records at Mayo Clinic Hospital-Saint Marys Campus, the thefts occurred between Oct. 26 and Dec. 14, court documents say.
Gustafson allegedly admitted to Mayo Security Services and a Rochester police investigator that she’d stolen between 50 and 100 vials of the drug in the past month or so.
She reportedly said she used the Fentanyl herself by either administering the drug while she was at work or later at her Sargeant home.