Lithia Nurse Pleads Guilty To Tampering With Injectable Fentanyl And Falsifying Hospital Records

Tampa, Florida – Acting United States Attorney Sara C. Sweeney announces that Lisa Williams (56, Lithia) has pleaded guilty to six counts of tampering with a consumer product and six counts of acquiring a controlled substance by misrepresentation. Williams faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison for each count of tampering and up to 4 years in federal prison for each acquisition offense. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to court documents, on October 30, November 5 and 28, and December 3, 9, and 10, 2023, Williams – a Florida licensed registered nurse (RN) – removed injectable fentanyl from a secure drawer at Hospital #1. Thereafter, Williams tampered with the injectable fentanyl by removing a portion of the controlled substance from its container for her own personal use. After removing the injectable fentanyl from the infusion bag, Williams swapped it with another container she had already tampered with and put it back into circulation. By tampering with the injectable fentanyl, Williams acted with reckless disregard that Hospital #1 patients would be placed in danger of death or bodily injury and under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to such risk. Williams also knowingly manipulated the hospital records to falsely report a canceled transaction and give the fraudulent appearance that nothing was removed from the secure drawer.

This case was investigated by the Food and Drug Administration—Office of Criminal Investigations and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Greg Pizzo.