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Felony charges have been filed against a Penfield nurse accused of stealing drugs while working at Penn Highlands DuBois.
K. Rucinksi, 24, was charged Oct. 28 by an agent of the attorney general’s office with two felony counts of acquiring or obtaining possession of a controlled substance by misrepresentation, two misdemeanor counts of furnishing false/fraudulent material information and two misdemeanor counts of intentional possession of a controlled substance.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, on April 26, Rucinski entered a verbal order into the computer claiming a doctor had prescribed 4 mgs of liquid morphine for two different patients.
When the doctor who had supposedly ordered the medication was reviewing the orders for her approval, she saw Rucinksi’s orders, printed them out and wrote on them, “I did not verbally order this medication” before signing them.
Rucinski was asked by a representative of human resources to explain the situation. She insisted the doctor had authorized the medication.
In an interview with investigators on Oct. 15, Rucinski allegedly told the agents that during her employment at the hospital, she had taken liquid narcotics before through false wasting procedures.
She reportedly admitted to loading syringes while at work with liquid narcotics including dilaudid, morphine and fentanyl and then injecting them into her leg at home.
She confessed to falsely creating the two orders for morphine on April 26 and taking the medication for her personal use, according to the criminal complaint.
Rucinski’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 11 during centralized court in District Judge Pat Ford’s office in DuBois.