25 Feb Nurse gets probation for stealing morphine, fentanyl from Pine Ridge hospital | Crime & Courts
A man who previously stole drugs from an Ohio hospital will spend a year on probation after admitting to stealing morphine and fentanyl from the Pine Ridge hospital, where he worked as a nurse.
Robert Wetenkamp was sentenced Wednesday at the federal courthouse in Rapid City after previously pleading guilty to acquiring drugs by fraud, court records show. He could have been sent to prison for up to four years.
As part of his plea deal, prosecutors dropped charges of health care fraud and making a false statement regarding health care.
Wetenkamp was a registered nurse at AB Staffing Solutions, which contracts with the Indian Health Service, when he began working at the Pine Ridge hospital’s emergency department in August 2016, according to a factual basis document he signed.
After being given a prescription from a doctor, nurses are allowed to access controlled substances through an automated dispensing machine, the document says. The machine records which nurse is using it and can compare the amount of drugs taken to doctors’ prescriptions and the patient’s medical records.
Hospital records found that on “numerous instances” between Jan. 3 and Feb. 23, 2017, Wetenkamp took drugs he wasn’t authorized to access and took morphine and fentanyl for his own use, the document says. A hair sample from Wetenkamp tested positive for “numerous” drugs, including fentanyl.
Using a similar method, Wetenkamp also stole fentanyl “for his personal use” in 2002 while working as a nurse at the emergency department of University Hospital in Cincinnati, according to a consent agreement between him and the Ohio Board of Nursing.
After he was caught stealing the drugs from a dispensing machine, the document says, Wetenkamp entered a drug-addiction program. But in 2003 he relapsed and began using cocaine, and in 2004, he gave narcotics to patients even though he wasn’t allowed to.
Wetenkamp had his Ohio nursing license suspended in 2005 but moved to Florida before he could try to regain it, the document says.
State and federal court records in Ohio show no criminal charges against Wetenkamp.
AB Staffing Solutions immediately fired Wetenkamp after it learned he was being investigated for stealing drugs and the company cooperated with the investigation, company spokeswoman Meredith Donoho said. It’s unclear if Wetenkamp still has a nursing license.
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