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A former nurse at the Providence VA Medical Center has been sentenced for tampering with hospital prescriptions.
Rhode Island U.S. Attorney Aaron Weisman said Friday 35-year-old Jared Scott, of West Warwick, Rhode Island, was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison.
Scott acknowledged that he removed liquid opioids from vials at the hospital for his personal use and filled the vials with saline.
Overall, opioid prescription rates are decreasing in the Military Health System.
He pleaded guilty in December to tampering with a consumer product and acquiring a controlled substance by deception and subterfuge.
Scott told the judge he accessed vials meant for patients in a locked storage cart several times in 2017.
The Providence VA spokesman says the center’s safeguards for medication helped identify the theft and the person responsible.
Scott’s public defender couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Friday.