Nurse had prior arrest (Pharmacist says he helped LPN steal painkiller, file shows)

Rocky Mountain News ^ | November 24, 2005 | Hector Gutierrez

[BulletBobCo]

A licensed practical nurse arrested this week for allegedly stealing large amounts of an anesthetic narcotic from a Denver hospital was jailed last year in a similar theft at another medical facility, according to court records. The former pharmacist at the Colorado Acute Long Term Hospital, where the nurse, Keith W. Little, worked before his latest brush with the law, also was arrested and charged in July for being in possession of a controlled substance.

The pharmacist, Loren Priem, told Denver detectives that he helped Little steal the potent painkiller, Fentanyl, in February when the two worked at the hospital together, according to the affidavit for Little's arrest warrant.

Little, 35, was arrested Monday by detectives and agents with the Drug Enforcement Agency after a four-month investigation into the drug theft. The street value of the Fentanyl was $48,000, police said.

Little was arrested on suspicion of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and deceit, and being in possession of a controlled substance. He was freed after posting a $5,000 bond.

Court records showed that Little was sentenced to two years' probation after he pleaded guilty in August 2004 in Arapahoe County to a misdemeanor count of being in possession of marijuana. Prosecutors dismissed a felony count against him of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and deceit in that case.

During an interview with investigators in July, Little admitted that he "diverted" pain medication from a medical facility in Aurora and had entered the Colorado Nurses Program, which treats nurses who are undergoing substance abuse problems, the affidavit said.

Little claimed he had been "clean" for a year and a half and had not diverted medications since 2003, detectives wrote.

Denver police and the DEA began probing the theft of the painkiller in July after a pharmacy manager at the hospital told detectives she had received a tip that seven vials of Fentanyl were missing from the fifth-floor pharmacy in February. The pharmacist told detectives she believed Little was responsible for the theft because of his previous history of substance abuse. Little quit working at the hospital in June, according to the affidavit.

Priem said he reset the passwords for the temporary codes used to access the Med-Dispense machine so that Little could gain access to the Fentanyl vials.

Priem told detectives that Little used the narcotic himself, authorities said. He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday.

Despite last year's arrest, the state Board of Nursing, which is responsible for issuing licenses and administering discipline to nurses, has no record that Little was punished for inappropriate behavior.

Connie Hawley, human resources director at Colorado Acute Long Term Hospital, referred inquiries about the case to the medical facility's corporate office in Texas. A spokeswoman could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The hospital provides transitional care to patients who have been discharged from St. Anthony Central Hospital.

[goresalooza]

AHA! I just KNEW there was more to this story than was being reported. I knew there was "someone" somewhere helping this LPN steal the drug, he could not have been taking large amounts of Fentanyl without someone "checking" and inventorying at the pharmacy level.

And he was stealing vials...not only patches. AHA..more info!

[BulletBobCo]

ping

[American Vet Repairman]

Thanks for the ping BBC. I am shocked and awed!!!! I have been serving my country as a nurse for close to 2 decades now and it torks my rotor every time I come across a druggie nurse story.

The rules for drugs and nurses needs to be zero tolerance. Every druggie nurse I have ever come across has been unsafe and I know of one that killed a patient and we could not prove it due to weak management.

There were flags all over this SOB.