Worcester Nurse Steals Drugs at Nursing Home

BOSTON – A Worcester nurse has been sentenced to 20 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to stealing painkillers from the nursing home where she worked, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

To try conceal her crime Lea Roberge,33, admitted she replaced the medication with saline, officials said.

Roberge was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman on Wednesday to 20 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

Roberge pleaded guilty in January to two counts of tampering with a consumer product, specifically the painkiller morphine.

Twice in March of 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, according to officials.

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.