Nurse Anesthetist Pleads Guilty to Stealing Fentanyl from Dubuque Hospital

A man who was a certified nurse anesthetist working in a Dubuque hospital in January 2022 and stole fentanyl pled guilty today in federal court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Benjamin K. Albert, age 53, from Round Lake, Illinois, was convicted of three counts of acquiring fentanyl through fraud.

In a plea agreement, Albert admitted that he worked at a Dubuque hospital as a certified registered nurse anesthetist from January 13, 2022, through January 27, 2022.  A certified registered nurse anesthetist administers anesthesia and provides pain management to individuals undergoing surgical procedures.  Over the five days that he worked, Albert administered fentanyl to 18 patients.  Albert admitted that on each day he worked, he acquired fentanyl from the hospital by drawing extra fentanyl from the hospital pharmacy in a patient’s name.  Albert then only administered a portion of the fentanyl to the patient.  He stole the rest for his own use.  Several of Albert’s patients who he charted as having received appropriate dosing of fentanyl exhibited signs of feeling significant pain during surgery.    

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams will be set after a presentence report is prepared.  Albert remains free on release pending sentencing.  For each count, Albert faces a possible maximum sentence of four years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and one year of supervised release following any imprisonment.  As part of sentencing, Albert has agreed to forfeit his Iowa nursing license to the United States.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Patrick J. Reinert and Timothy Vavricek and was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Investigative Division of the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals. 

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

The case file number is 25-CR-1045.

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