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Nearly 250 prescription medication pills dispensed for residents were kept by a nurse working at a Meadville senior living facility during the first six months of the year, the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General charged on Thursday.

E. Hart, 37, of Reno faces seven felony and 25 misdemeanor charges for allegedly taking painkillers and anxiety disorder drugs meant for seven patients at Wesbury United Methodist Retirement Community, where Hart worked as a licensed practical nurse, according to the charges against him.

Hart was arraigned Thursday before Magisterial District Judge Samuel Pendolino. He is accused of taking 234 tablets of hydrocodone, an opioid used to treat pain and suppress coughing; three tablets of oxycodone, an opioid used to treat moderate to severe pain; and nine tablets of alprazolam, which is used to treat anxiety and panic disorders. The medication had been prescribed for patients ranging in age from 73 to 92, according to the criminal complaint filed by the Office of Attorney General.

Hart was suspended from his job at Wesbury in June and is no longer employed there, according to a spokeswoman.

“He was immediately suspended the day that indications of substance diversion were identified,” said Melissa Porter, Wesbury’s vice president of sales and marketing. “The safety and security of Wesbury residents is always our No. 1 priority. We’ve been working very closely with the Department of Health, our regulatory boards and the Attorney General’s Bureau of Narcotic Investigations on this case.”

A posting to Wesbury’s online blog in October 2021 congratulated Hart as one of several employees marking their five-year anniversaries with the nonprofit.

From January to June, according to the criminal complaint, Hart allegedly dispensed pills for the various patients at times when they were not needed and kept the pills for himself.

The criminal complaint against Hart also charges that in nearly all of the alleged instances he never made a record of dispensing the pills on the charts for the patients. On June 10, however, Hart allegedly took a hydrocodone tablet and recorded that it had been administered to a 73-year-old patient. He also is charged with falsely recording that half of a hydrocodone tablet for the same patient had been wasted on the same day.

Hart faces seven felony counts of obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation. Each charge carries the possibility of up to 15 years imprisonment and up to a $250,000 fine.

The misdemeanor charges against Hart consist of seven counts of possession of a controlled substance, eight counts of records violations, seven counts of procuring a drug by fraud, one count of neglect of care — dependent person, one count of theft by unlawful taking and one count of theft by deception.

Hart remains free on his own recognizance. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Aug. 11 before Pendolino.