A former nurse at a Massachusetts hospital has been sentenced for tampering with opioids intended for emergency department patients.
Mark Croft, 48, of West Boylston, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs to one year and one day in prison and three years of supervised release, with the first year to be severed in home confinement.
Croft pleaded guilty on January 28, 2021, to one count of tampering with a consumer product and one count of acquiring a controlled substance by deception and subterfuge.
The crime occurred while Croft worked at a Massachusetts hospital in January 2016. He administered hydromorphone and meperidine, both Schedule II controlled substances, to emergency department patients in need of pain relief.
Croft had entered into an Agreement Not to Practice with the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing after being terminated from a previous position as a nurse in December 2015, but did not inform his then-current employer of this agreement.
Between January 5 and 14, 2016, Croft tampered with carpujects containing hydromorphone and meperidine by accessing the automated dispensing machine in the hospital’s emergency department.
Croft used his credentials to enter false ‘cancel’ or ‘return to stock’ transactions in the machine, allowing him to remove the carpujects. He then used syringes to puncture the carpujects and remove portions of the hydromorphone and meperidine for his own use.
In several instances, Croft replaced the medication he removed with saline in an attempt to conceal his conduct. To avoid detection, Croft later put the carpujects with the diluted medication back in the machine where they remained available for nurses to unwittingly use on patients.
Defendant: Mark Croft
Criminal Charges: Tampering with a consumer product, acquiring a controlled substance by deception and subterfuge
City and State: West Boylston, Massachusetts
Date: January 28, 2021 (plea), June 29 (sentencing)
Sentence: One year and one day in prison, three years of supervised release with the first year in home confinement
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Key Facts
- State: Massachusetts
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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