Former City Nurse Gets 2- to 5 Years in Drug Abuse Case

A former Edgewood Centre nurse who took morphine meant for a patient was convicted and sentenced to 2- to 5 years in State Prison, according to the New Hampshire Attorney Generals Office.

In a press release, NH Attorney General Michael A. Delaney said that Nina Perez, 31, of Portsmouth was convicted and sentenced on Wednesday for possession of a controlled drug and abuse of a facility patient in Rockingham County Superior Court. She was arrested in August for the offenses that took place in May.

Delaney said Perez, a former licensed practical nurse, pleaded guilty in Rockingham County Superior Court to one class B felony count of possession of a controlled drug and one misdemeanor count of abuse of facility patients.

According to police, Perez took a quantity of the controlled drug morphine that was prescribed for a resident and retained it for her own use. Perez was sentenced to 12 months at the Rockingham County House of Corrections followed by two years of probation.

Delaney said six months of the sentence was suspended for two years upon the condition of good behavior. Perez also received a sentence of two to five years at the New Hampshire State Prison and a $350 fine. The term of incarceration was suspended for three years upon the condition of good behavior.

Delaney said the case was prosecuted by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which investigates both health care provider fraud and allegations involving abuse and neglect of nursing home residents. He also said Perez's nursing license has been revoked and she has been added to a federal database of individuals who are excluded from working in health care facilities for five years.

"My office will continue to investigate and vigorously prosecute caregivers who violate the trust placed with them by committing crimes of abuse upon the State's most vulnerable citizens," Delaney said.