NURSE SENTENCED FOR TAMPERING WITH VIALS OF FENTANYL

DETROIT – A Grosse Pointe Park registered nurse, Travis Eskridge, was sentenced to two years in federal prison for tampering with a consumer product, specifically the Schedule II controlled substance fentanyl.  The announcement was made by United States Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr.

Gorgon was joined in the announcement by Special Agent in Charge Ronne Malham, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations Chicago Field Office.

Travis Eskridge, 54, of Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, worked as a registered nurse in the emergency room at Ascension St. John Hospital until August of 2022.  In his guilty plea Eskridge admitted that he tampered with vials containing fentanyl, a powerful narcotic pain reliever, which he knew were intended to be administered to patients in the hospital’s emergency room.  Eskridge removed fentanyl from the vials, replaced fentanyl with another liquid, and returned the tampered vials to the locked drug storage system. Eskridge did this with reckless disregard for the dangerous risk to patients that resulted from such tampering.  The defendant also admitted that he stole fentanyl vials as part of a pattern of thefts for his personal drug use from May of 2022 until August of 2022.  Nurse Eskridge was immediately removed from his position at Ascension St. John Hospital in August of 2022 when the hospital discovered the tampering and thefts.     

United States Attorney Gorgon stated, “When nurse Eskridge placed tampered vials back into the hospital’s medical supply, he exposed patients in desperate need of pain relief to continued suffering.  This is a reprehensible crime.  No medical professional should torture a patient.  I credit the hospital and the FDA investigators for their work in exposing this crime.”

“Emergency room patients trust they will be administered the pain relief drugs that the doctor ordered,” said Special Agent in Ronne Malham, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations, Chicago Field Office. “We will continue to pursue and bring to justice healthcare professionals who violate their position of trust and jeopardize patients’ health and well-being by tampering with their pain medications.”

Travis Eskridge was sentenced by United States District Judge Susan K. DeClercq.

The case was investigated by special agents of the Food and Drug Administration.