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A Buncombe County nurse has been arrested on multiple felony charges after allegedly overdosing on medication prescribed to his patient, a Canton juvenile.
J. Theodosiou, 24, was initially indicted on two felonies by a Haywood County Grand Jury late last month. According to an SBI press release, Theodosiou, a former in-home registered nurse, allegedly embezzled and misused narcotics prescribed to his patient and overdosed.
“At the time of the incident, Theodosiou was providing contracted in-home nursing care to a juvenile patient with extreme special needs in Canton,” the release reads. “Theodosiou had been found unconscious during his shift in the patient’s bedroom by the patient’s father.”
Once the incident was reported to the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office, that agency requested the SBI to investigate the possible theft and misuse of the “opioid-based controlled substance.” The indictment identifies the medications as “diazepam … and/or methadone.” The specific date of offense listed in the indictment is Dec. 15, 2019.
The indictment notes that Theodosiou did “inflict serious physical injury upon [the victim], a child under the age of 16 years, while providing care to and/or supervision to the child, when defendant withheld medication from the child, resulting in serious physical injury to the child. Defendant’s willful conduct and/or grossly negligent omission in the care of the child was a reckless disregard for human life.”
Theodosiou turned himself in at the Buncombe County Detention Center on Aug. 4, where he was met with charges of felony child abuse inflicting physical injury and felony embezzlement of a controlled substance and was issued a $20,000 unsecured bond. While Theodosiou doesn’t have an extensive criminal record, in the past he has faced charges in Buncombe County for driving while intoxicated and possession of marijuana.
The North Carolina Board of Nursing has suspended Theodosiou’s nursing license. He is scheduled to appear in Haywood County court on Sept. 14.