Nurse Charged with Stealing Morphine from Nursing Home Patient

UPDATED, 2:27 P.M.: A nurse from Berwick, Maine who is charged with stealing morphine meant for a patient is no longer employed at the Edgewood Centre in Portsmouth.

Miriam Pelletier, the director of the elderly care facility, said that Nina Perez, 31, who is now facing charges of unlawfully possessing a controlled drug and abuse of a facility patient by the New Hampshire Attorney General's office, no longer works there. Pelletier could not say when Perez left the facility or whether Perez was fired before the drug charges surfaced.

Pelletier referred all other questions to Edgewood Centre Administrator Patricia Cummings on Monday afternoon and attempts to reach her for comment were not successful.

Earlier story: A nurse from Berwick, Maine is facing charges alleging that she stole morphine that was meant for a patient at a Portsmouth nursing home and kept it for her own use.

Nina Perez, 31, was arrested for unlawfully possessing a controlled drug and abuse of a facility patient, Attorney General Michael Delaney announced Monday.

The charges stem from a May 19 incident where Perez allegedly took a quantity of morphine that was prescribed for a patient at the Edgewood Centre in Portsmouth and retained it for her own use. She then gave the drug flexeril, a muscle relaxant, to the patient as a substitute for the morphine. Perez was a licensed practical nurse working at the nursing home at the time.

The case was referred to the attorney general by the Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman. The Medicaid Fraud Unit, which investigates and prosecutes allegations of residence abuse at healthcare facilities, investigated Perez's crimes.

Perez is scheduled to be arraigned on Sept. 17 at 8 a.m. in Portsmouth District Court.

Unlawfully possessing a controlled drug is a Class B felony and abuse of a facility patient is a Class A misdemeanor.