VA Nurse Admits to Fraudulently Obtaining and Tampering with Opioid Prescriptions

PROVIDENCE – A Providence VA Medical Center nurse pled guilty in federal court today to charges that he fraudulently obtained and tampered with morphine and other opioid prescriptions at the VA Medical Center.

Appearing before U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith, Jared Scott, 35, of West Warwick, admitted that on several occasions in October and November 2017, he accessed vials of liquid opioids designated for patient use.  Scott admitted to removing the vials from a locked storage cart for his own personal use, and leaving behind vials filled with saline.

Scott pled guilty as charged in an indictment returned on June 28, 2018, with tampering with a consumer product and acquiring a controlled substance by deception and subterfuge. 

Scott’s guilty plea is announced by United States Attorney Stephen G. Dambruch, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General Sean J. Smith, and Jeffrey J. Ebersole, Resident Agent in Charge of the United States Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations.

Scott is scheduled to be sentenced on April 5, 2019. Tampering with a consumer product is punishable by statutory penalties of up to 10 years in federal prison, 3 years supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.  Obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, deception and subterfuge is punishable by statutory penalties of up to 4 years in federal prison, 1 year supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Terrence P. Donnelly.

The matter was investigated by the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General and the United States Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations.

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