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Department of Justice United States Attorney Julia C. Dudley Western District of Virginia |
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CONTACT: Brian McGinn PHONE: 540-857-2974 FAX: 540-857-2179 EMAIL: Brian.McGinn@usdoj.gov www.usdoj.gov/usao/vaw |
FORMER NURSE ANESTHETIST SENTENCED FOR DIVERTING PAIN MEDS
Alvin Parkes To Serve Six Months
ROANOKE, VIRGINIA -- In order to feed his drug addiction, Alvin Parkes, 62, a former certified nurse anesthetist at both Pulaski Community Hospital and Carilion New River Valley Medical Center, diverted powerful pain medication, intended for recovering patients, for his personal use.
In June 2009, Parkes, a resident of Draper, Virginia, pleaded guilty to two counts of obtaining a controlled substance, specifically fentanyl, by means of misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception or subterfuge. This morning in U.S. District Court, he was sentenced to six months of incarceration and one year of supervised release thereafter. He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $200 and a criminal fine of $3,000.
Like all nurse anesthetists, Parkes had a drug cart used to transport schedule II and schedule IV drugs. This cart was replenished, with the nurse’s signature, at the hospital’s pharmacy. In order to obtain fentanyl, Parkes would report to the pharmacy that his cart needed to be replenished because he had dropped and damaged several boxes of the fentanyl. The defendant falsely reported damage to medication at least four times in a three-month time frame. Each box contained ten, 100 mcq ampules of fentanyl.
In addition to lying about damaging drugs, Parkes also diverted fentanyl directly from the hospitals in which he worked. When patients required pain medication, the defendant would administer a set amount of the drug and divert the remaining fentanyl for his personal use.
Parkes admitted that he would empty syringes of fentanyl and refill them with sterile water. That sterile water, instead of pain medication, was then administered to endoscopic procedure patients that underwent such procedures as a colonoscopy.
After obtaining the drugs, Parkes would self administer fentanyl into his forearm through a syringe while sitting in a hospital bathroom or other location. The defendant began self administering 1cc of fentanyl a day, but eventually took as many as 8 ccs of the drug each day. On October 17, 2008 Parkes surrendered his nursing license.
The investigation of the case was conducted by the Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations and the Virginia State Police Drug Diversion Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Charlene R. Day is prosecuting the case for the United States.