Providence Nurse Sentenced for Tampering with Oxycodone

BOSTON – A licensed nurse was sentenced today in federal court in Worcester for tampering with oxycodone by stealing pills from a nursing home where she worked and attempting to conceal the theft by replacing the medication with other medications. 

Charlotte Demers, 37, of Providence, R.I., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman to four years of probation, with the first six months to be served in home confinement. In June 2017, Demers pleaded guilty to four counts of tampering with a consumer product, specifically oxycodone, a narcotic used for pain relief. Demers enrolled in the Court-run RISE program, which she successfully completed.

Between Sept. 12, 2016, and Oct. 8, 2016, while working as a Licensed Practical Nurse at Countryside Health Care in Milford, Mass., Demers tampered with four blisterpacks of oxycodone that had been prescribed for residents of the nursing facility. She removed the oxycodone pills from the blisterpacks, replaced them with other medications that were used to treat other medical conditions, re-sealed the blistercards and put them back on medication carts at the nursing facility.  

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Jeffrey Ebersole, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations, New York Field Office; and Commissioner Monica Bharel, MD, MPH, of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Division of Food and Drugs, Drug Control Program, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle L. Dineen Jerrett of Lelling’s Worcester Branch Office prosecuted the case.

The Court-run RISE Program (Repair, Invest, Succeed, Emerge) is designed for individuals who have pled guilty and are under pretrial supervision prior to sentencing. These individuals must apply for admission to the program and be accepted into the program by the U.S. District Court.