An eastern Iowa nurse will spend time in federal prison after admitting to stealing prescription drugs from her patients.
Thirty-six-year-old Lacey Staveley of Evansdale pleaded guilty plea to one count of acquiring a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, deception, one count of false statements relating to health care matters and one count of contempt of court.
Staveley admitted in November 2016 to using the identities of patients at Cedar Falls nursing home to get prescription drugs containing hydrocodone her own use. Staveley destroyed an original medication log and replaced it with a fake medication log to try and cover her tracks. When the nursing home discovered her thefts and asked her to provide a urine sample for testing, Staveley provided the nursing home with a fake urine sample consisting of toilet water that had flecks of toilet paper in it and no urine color. The nursing home obtained an actual urine sample from Staveley and it tested positive for the use of opiates, marijuana, and hydrocodone.
Court records show she was fired and then got a job working as an LPN for a different nursing home in Waterloo. This nursing home was unaware of Staveley’s prior employment in Cedar Falls. Staveley took two oxycodone pills from a patient’s medication stocks. She also replaced the pills in the original blister pack with an anti-psychotic drug that did not provide pain relief.
This patient complained of pain constantly. Staveley also admitted that she took four narcotic pills, containing Vimpat, from another nursing home patient and replaced those pills with an anti-seizure drug that had a similar shape and color. This second patient was non-verbal and could not even complain of pain. The second nursing home also fired Staveley.
After being charged in federal court, Staveley violated the terms of her release more than 30 times. A federal judge revoked Staveley’s release after Staveley traveled to Tama County, burglarized her sister’s home, and stole her sister’s prescription drugs. Staveley’s sister suffered from serious medical conditions that required the prescriptions. Staveley was sentenced to 15 months in prison and was ordered to make more than $500 in restitution. She must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term.