DIANA L. LANCASTER, 47, of Silverdale, Washington, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to Knowingly and Intentionally Acquiring a Controlled Substance by Misrepresentation and Deception. When sentenced by U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle on February 1, 2008, LANCASTER faces up to four years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

According to the plea agreement, LANCASTER was employed as a Registered Nurse (RN) at Evergreen Health and Rehabilitation, a nursing home in Bremerton, Washington. As an RN, LANCASTER regularly came into contact with controlled substances which were prescribed by doctors for patients at the nursing home. LANCASTER stole medications from the facility, including multi-pill quantities of narcotics such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, methadone, dilaudid, and clonazepam. To conceal her thefts, LANCASTER made notations on medical charts that the drugs had been given to patients. LANCASTER abused some of the drugs herself, and sold some of them to other people. On October 3, 2007, at the conclusion of the investigation, LANCASTER was stopped as she drove home from work. Bremerton Police officers found LANCASTER was carrying multi-pill quantities of dilaudid, clonazepam, hydrocodone, and methadone, which she was taking from the facility. More drugs were found in a search of LANCASTER’s home. In her plea agreement, LANCASTER admits not only the theft of the drugs, but extensive shoplifting activities over the same period of time from stores such as Macy’s, Ross and J.C. Penny’s.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bremerton Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ron Friedman.

For additional information please contact Emily Langlie, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorney’s Office, at (206) 553-4110.

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