Nursing home turns over employee suspected of stealing prescription drugs
NORWICH– A Licensed Practical Nurse working at a city nursing home was charged with a number of crimes Wednesday.
LPN Michael P. Miller, 38, of 1720 State Route 8, Mt. Upton, is accused of altering doctor prescriptions and internal narcotic recording keeping documents in order to cover up the theft of prescription pills from his employer.
He was arrested Wednesday morning, less than 24 hours after City Court Judge James Downey issued a warrant for his arrest.
Acting Administrator for Valley View Manor Nursing Home, Olive Grant Wilson, said her office contacted local police and the Chenango County District Attorney’s Office after staff members noticed the altered entries and errors in the prescription pill’s inventory.
“Protocols are in place and they work. The suspected individual was immediately suspended pending the investigation, and as required in any case of missing narcotics, we contacted the proper authorities,” she said Wednesday.
Wilson said Miller had been employed by Valley View Manor for less than a year. She also said her facility had launched its own investigation into the incident.
Miller appeared in court yesterday before Downey to face charges of third degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a Class E felony, along with first degree falsifying business records and petit larceny, both misdemeanors.
Downey said that on Aug. 9, police discovered 27 tablets of the prescription drug Percocet in Miller’s possession for which he did not have a private prescription.
The judge also said investigators accused Miller of altering the “amphetamine count records to conceal a crime of petit larceny,” at Valley View.
In court, Norwich Police Officer Michael Purdy told the judge that the New York State Police had filed a warrant with the Town of Norwich Court over charges of second degree possession of a forged instrument, a felony.
Purdy said the charges allege that Miller altered a prescription in order to obtain narcotic pills.
The officer went on to tell the court that the recovered pills were allegedly taken from the nursing home’s pharmacy, not from patients, and that it was unknown if they were for personal use or were resold on the street.
Miller pleaded not guilty to all the charges and requested a public defender.
The Chenango County District Attorney’s Office, communicating through Officer Purdy, requested bail be placed at $5,000.
Downey then began reviewing Miller’s eligibility for bail, noting he had lived in the Chenango area for more than eight years and that he had an open case in Otsego County involving charges of possession of stolen property. Miller told the judge the matter was settled, but he still owed restitution payments in the amount of $450 and court fines of $200.
Downey ordered that Miller be held on $5,000 cash bail or $10,000 property bond.
Miller is scheduled to reappear in Norwich City Court Thursday with an appointed attorney for a felony hearing.
LPN Michael P. Miller, 38, of 1720 State Route 8, Mt. Upton, is accused of altering doctor prescriptions and internal narcotic recording keeping documents in order to cover up the theft of prescription pills from his employer.
He was arrested Wednesday morning, less than 24 hours after City Court Judge James Downey issued a warrant for his arrest.
Acting Administrator for Valley View Manor Nursing Home, Olive Grant Wilson, said her office contacted local police and the Chenango County District Attorney’s Office after staff members noticed the altered entries and errors in the prescription pill’s inventory.
“Protocols are in place and they work. The suspected individual was immediately suspended pending the investigation, and as required in any case of missing narcotics, we contacted the proper authorities,” she said Wednesday.
Wilson said Miller had been employed by Valley View Manor for less than a year. She also said her facility had launched its own investigation into the incident.
Miller appeared in court yesterday before Downey to face charges of third degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a Class E felony, along with first degree falsifying business records and petit larceny, both misdemeanors.
Downey said that on Aug. 9, police discovered 27 tablets of the prescription drug Percocet in Miller’s possession for which he did not have a private prescription.
The judge also said investigators accused Miller of altering the “amphetamine count records to conceal a crime of petit larceny,” at Valley View.
In court, Norwich Police Officer Michael Purdy told the judge that the New York State Police had filed a warrant with the Town of Norwich Court over charges of second degree possession of a forged instrument, a felony.
Purdy said the charges allege that Miller altered a prescription in order to obtain narcotic pills.
The officer went on to tell the court that the recovered pills were allegedly taken from the nursing home’s pharmacy, not from patients, and that it was unknown if they were for personal use or were resold on the street.
Miller pleaded not guilty to all the charges and requested a public defender.
The Chenango County District Attorney’s Office, communicating through Officer Purdy, requested bail be placed at $5,000.
Downey then began reviewing Miller’s eligibility for bail, noting he had lived in the Chenango area for more than eight years and that he had an open case in Otsego County involving charges of possession of stolen property. Miller told the judge the matter was settled, but he still owed restitution payments in the amount of $450 and court fines of $200.
Downey ordered that Miller be held on $5,000 cash bail or $10,000 property bond.
Miller is scheduled to reappear in Norwich City Court Thursday with an appointed attorney for a felony hearing.
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