Worcester Nurse Arrested in Connection with Stealing Morphine

BOSTON – A charge against a registered nurse was unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court in Worcester in connection with stealing painkiller from the nursing home where she worked, and then attempting to conceal her crime by replacing the medication with saline. 

Lea Roberge, 32, of Worcester, was charged with tampering with a consumer product, specifically the Schedule II controlled substance morphine which is used for pain relief.   Roberge was charged in a sealed Complaint on Nov. 20, 2015.

The complaint alleges that in March 2015, while working as a Registered Nurse at Holy Trinity Eastern Orthodox Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Roberge tampered with morphine sulfate contained in emergency narcotic kits.  The kits are available for use at the nursing home in case of an emergency when there is not enough time to obtain medication from the pharmacy. Roberge, who had access to these emergency narcotic kits, used a syringe to extract morphine from six vials and one bottle.  In an attempt to avoid detection, she replaced the extracted medication with saline, thereby decreasing the potency of the drug.  

The maximum sentence under the statute is 10 years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

In an unrelated but similar case, on Tuesday an ambulance paramedic was sentenced to 30 months in prison after she stole Fentanyl by extracting it from vials and replacing it with saline.  Teresa Torres was sentenced in Worcester by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Hillman.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Spencer Morrison, Acting 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.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle L. Dineen Jerrett of Ortiz’s Worcester Branch Office.

The details contained in the complaint are allegations.  The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.