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A nurse who worked in a Bridgeton hospital was sentenced Tuesday to two years of probation for stealing pain pills from an automated dispensing machine.
Jessica Marie Powell, of St. Louis County, stole hydromorphone and oxycodone between Feb. 13, 2017, and Feb. 14, 2018, at DePaul Hospital in Bridgeton while working for Davita Hospital Services in the dialysis unit, her plea agreement says.
Powell took the meds from Pixys Medstations at the hospital by entering fictitious patient names or the names of current and former patients, her plea says.
Powell pleaded guilty in June to a felony charge of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud. Powell, then 32, was indicted in 2019.
Her lawyer, Michelle Monahan, asked for probation, saying in court filings that Powell became addicted to pain pills after surgery to attempt to alleviate back problems, and also suffered from anxiety and depression. She has not taken prescription medication since Feb. 14, 2018, and had sought intensive drug treatment.