Nurse Article
Pennsylvania - Nurse charged with stealing drugs from hospital
By Bonnie L. Cook
Inquirer Staff Writer
Police have arrested a Royersford woman and charged her with stealing more than 500 prescription pills from Eagleville Hospital, where she worked as a nurse.
Shannon Zimmerman, 24, of the 2200 block of Diamond Place, was arraigned Friday before District Justice Walter F. Gadzicki Jr. on charges of possessing drugs and related paraphernalia, procurement of drugs by fraud, and criminal conspiracy.
At a news briefing Friday, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said Royersford police were called to Zimmerman's apartment Sept. 12 to help Zimmerman's girlfriend, Gabrielle A. Gerold, 21, who had injected cocaine and heroin into her back and neck.
Officers searched the apartment and seized the pills, all believed to have come from the hospital, court documents said. Zimmerman told officers it was common practice for the hospital to save pills left over from patients who had been discharged.
The drugs included nonnarcotic painkillers, antidepressants, and antipsychotic medications, Ferman said.
"It seems logical that these should be accounted for in some way, but, clearly, they were not," Ferman said.
William C. Folks, a hospital spokesman, would not answer questions about Zimmerman's case or how the hospital secures its drugs.
"I would not be prepared to go into policies and procedures or corrective actions that we've taken," Folks said. He did say Zimmerman was no longer employed there.
Eagleville is a 318-bed nonprofit facility that treats people with drug and alcohol addiction, as well as related mental-health disorders.
Because the hospital accepts Medicaid reimbursement, it is subject to monitoring by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, Folks said.
Michael Race, a department spokesman, said he had not heard of Zimmerman's case. He did not know whether it would trigger reexamination of Eagleville's licensing status.
Zimmerman was released for a preliminary hearing Oct. 27 after posting 10 percent of $15,000 cash bond, according to court officials.
Police have issued a separate complaint for Gerold, of Monroe County, described in court papers as a former hospital patient.
Gerold is accused of criminal conspiracy, possession of a controlled substance, and drug possession with the intent to deliver.
November 10, 2010
