CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – A registered nurse on Thursday admitted illegally obtaining and using fentanyl from the hospital where she worked.

Lindsey M. Francis, now 35, was a nurse at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau at the time of the crime. On Jan. 15, 2022, a colleague discovered a used syringe in a locker room in the hospital’s emergency department. A subsequent investigation revealed that a vial of fentanyl had been tampered with. Confronted by hospital staff, Francis said that on that occasion and others since June or July of 2021, she had taken and injected leftover fentanyl due to work and personal stress, her plea agreement says. The total amount of fentanyl diverted was determined to be less than four grams.

Francis pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau to one count of unlawfully acquiring a controlled substance, a felony. The charge is punishable by up to four years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both.

Francis is scheduled to be sentenced August 1.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

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