Nurse accused of stealing meds from nursing home patients

March 03-- Mar. 3--Weatherly police say a Hazleton woman stole medication while she was caring for patients at a borough nursing home.

Michelle M. Sabo, 47, a licensed practical nurse, later admitted to taking the medication for personal use, according to arrest papers, and was charged with felonies for acquired or obtained possession of a controlled substance by misrepresentation and forgery.

She was also charged with misdemeanors for possession of a controlled substance and furnishing false information and was released on $50,000 unsecured bail Feb. 21 by Magisterial District Judge Joseph Homanko, Weatherly.

According to arrest papers, the administrator of Weatherwood Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center, 1000 Evergreen Ave., called police Jan. 14 about Sabo allegedly stealing drugs at the facility. Weatherwood said Sabo had 19 incidents where prescribed medication was improperly documented and where she claimed the drugs were dropped or destroyed, police wrote.

It was also documented that some residents who received prescribed oxycodone when needed were receiving it only when Sabo worked, court papers state.

The facility met with Sabo on Dec. 21 and required her to have a co-signature on all destroyed medication, but later they found she forged the signatures of three other staffers multiple times, according to court papers.

When Sabo was interviewed by police on Jan. 31, officers said she admitted to falsely claiming a pill was dropped, destroyed or provided to residents and would forge other staff members' names on documentation to cover her tracks, court papers state.

Contact the writer:

achristman@standardspeaker

.com; 570-501-3584

___

(c)2019 the Standard-Speaker (Hazleton, Pa.)

Visit the Standard-Speaker (Hazleton, Pa.) at standardspeaker.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.