PIKE COUNTY, KENTUCKY NURSE PLEADS GUILTY IN WEST VIRGINIA FEDERAL COURT TO FRAUD SCHEME TO USE PATIENT INFORMATION TO OBTAIN DRUGS FOR HER OWN USE
CASE INVOLVED OPIOID DIVERSION SCHEME WHERE SHE WORKED AT RALEIGH COUNTY, W.VA. HOSPITAL
DECEMBER 14, 2024 – written by WADE QUEEN
Jacqueline Brewster
A Pike County, Kentucky travel nurse has pleaded guilty in a West Virginia federal court to a scheme to use patient health information to obtain drugs.
Jacqueline Brewster, 54, of Belfry, KY., pleaded guilty to federal charges of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and wrongful disclosure of patient health information. The charges stem from Jacqueline Brewster’s employment at Raleigh General Hospital, in Beckley, W.Va.
In her plea agreement, Jacqueline Brewster admitted to using patient information to access vials of hydromorphone from an automated prescription dispensing machine. Jacqueline Brewster would siphon off a portion of the drug from the vial for her own use, then add another substance to the vial to make it appear full and use adhesive to reattach its cap to make it appear unopened. Jacqueline Brewster would then return the adulterated vial to the machine and cancel the prescription.
In exchange for her plea, federal prosecutors have agreed to dismiss a third charge of attempting to tamper with a consumer product.
Jacqueline Brewster entered her plea in front of a federal magistrate, but it must still be approved by a federal district judge. Once that happens, Jacqueline Brewster will face up to 14 years in prison when she is sentenced at a later date.
Here is the official statement from the Assistant U.S. District Attorney Office of West Virginia about the guilty plea deal by Jacqueline Brewster involving the opioid fraud scheme case:
“Jacqueline Brewster, 54, of Belfry, Kentucky, pleaded guilty on Wednesday, December 11, 2024, to obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and wrongful disclosure of individually identifiable health information.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Brewster admitted that she unlawfully accessed and used individually identifiable health information of patients at Raleigh General Hospital in Beckley to divert hydromorphone, an opioid, for her personal use. Brewster was employed as a travel nurse at Raleigh General Hospital from September 2021 until February 2022.
To carry out her diversion scheme, Brewster accessed automated controlled substance dispensing machines at Raleigh General Hospital using her personal biometrics and began the process for checking out hydromorphone purportedly for a patient. Once the machine’s drawer opened, Brewster siphoned off a portion of hydromorphone from its vial, diluted the remaining hydromorphone with another substance so the vial would appear full, reattached the cap and returned the vial to the machine drawer. She subsequently canceled the transaction.
Brewster admitted that on one occasion she unlawfully accessed individually identifiable health information and obtained a hydromorphone by fraud occurred on or about February 1, 2022, at Raleigh General Hospital. Brewster further admitted that she carried out her scheme and diverted hydromorphone many times over the course of her employment at Raleigh General Hospital, and that she siphoned the hydromorphone not for any legitimate use.
Brewster is scheduled to be sentenced on April 4, 2025, and faces a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a $500,000 fine.
United States Attorney Will Thompson made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration–Office of Criminal Investigations (FDA-OCI) Metro Washington Field Office, and the valuable assistance provided by detectives from the West Virginia State Police and the Kentucky State Police.
United States Magistrate Judge Omar J. Aboulhosn presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Owen Reynolds is prosecuting the case.
This case is part of a strategically coordinated, two-week nationwide law enforcement action that resulted in criminal charges against 193 defendants for their alleged participation in health care fraud and controlled substance abuse schemes that resulted in the submission of over $2.75 billion in alleged false billings. The defendants allegedly defrauded programs entrusted for the care of the elderly and disabled to line their own pockets, and the Government, in connection with the enforcement action, seized over $231 million in cash, luxury vehicles, gold, and other assets”.
