DETROIT (WWJ) – A woman from Ypsilanti who worked as a registered nurse in Detroit has been sentenced to four years behind bars for allegedly stealing vials of liquid painkiller and replacing them with saline solution.
Mary Cheatham, 42, learned her sentence Tuesday after pleading guilty to tampering with vials and syringes containing the painkiller hydromorphone, U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison’s office announced.
Court records show in 2020 when Cheatham worked at a Detroit hospital, which was not identified, she stole 116 vials and syringes of the drug and used it on herself.
Cheatham admitted she knew the drugs were intended to be administered to patients for the purpose of pain relief in the critical care unit of the hospital.
She removed the hydromorphone from the vials and syringes, replaced the hydromorphone with saline solution, and returned the adulterated containers knowing they could be administered to patients at the hospital, officials said.
“Patients in a hospital should be able to rely on receiving their needed medications,” Ison said, per a press release. “We will not hesitate to prosecute health care workers who steal drugs and put patients at serious risk of harm.”
The investigation was conducted by the Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Regina R. McCullough.
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