Nurse Pleads Guilty to Illegally Obtaining Fentanyl from Hospital
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – An Osage Beach, Mo., nurse pleaded guilty in federal court today to illegally obtaining fentanyl from a hospital for his own use.
Charles Welch Jr., 65, waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Roseann A. Ketchmark to a federal information that charges him with one count of obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation.
Welch, a certified registered nurse anesthetist at Lake Ozark Anesthesia, primarily provided anesthesia services at Lake Regional Hospital in Osage Beach. Welch was responsible for preparing various medications for use in daily medical procedures.
By pleading guilty today, Welch admitted that he stole fentanyl from the automated dispensing cabinets located in the hospital’s operating rooms from approximately July 1 through Aug. 21, 2023. Welch specifically pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining a vial of fentanyl which was for use in a medical procedure, by scanning the fentanyl to generate a label that Welch affixed to a syringe he had previously filled with saline, thus concealing the true contents of the syringe and enabling Welch to divert the fentanyl for his personal use.
On Aug. 16, 2023, during a routine restock of an automated dispensing cabinet, a pharmacy technician discovered a vial of midazolam and a syringe filled with a liquid and a “hydromorphone” label affixed to the syringe in a drawer used to temporarily store medications for procedures. The pharmacy technician alerted the hospital’s director of pharmacy that the drugs had been left in the drawer.
The director of pharmacy reviewed footage from surveillance cameras and witnessed Welch remove a vial of fentanyl and place the vial in his pocket. Welch then placed a fentanyl label on a syringe that he had previously filled with saline. During the same transaction, surveillance footage also captured Welch remove a carpuject of hydromorphone, place it in his shirt pocket, and affix a “hydromorphone” label onto a syringe which Welch had previously filled with saline.
The director of pharmacy then reviewed all the hospital’s available security footage, which went back 14 days, and identified other transactions where Welch exhibited similar conduct.
Welch admitted he diverted either fentanyl or hydromorphone on an almost daily basis until he was confronted in August 2023. Welch admitted that after diverting the controlled substances, he would put the drugs in his backpack and self-administer the drugs when he got home.
In addition to fraudulently labeling syringes, Welch also admitted to pulling more of a controlled substance than what was needed for a procedure. In some instances where only one vial of fentanyl was needed for a procedure, Welch would pull two fentanyl vials. Welch would use one vial for the procedure and divert the second vial for his personal use.
Welch also admitted to fraudulently documenting that patients received a particular dosage of medication on patient charts when he was aware the patient did not receive that dose. Welch made false statements on patient charts so that the medication he pulled for a procedure would reconcile with what the patient received.
Under federal statutes, Welch is subject to a sentence of up to four years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Food and Drug Administration, Office of Criminal Investigations.
