DANVERS — A now-former nurse at a Danvers assisted-living facility is facing charges that she stole pain medications from at least six residents for months, secretly replacing their Vicodin and oxycodone with a generic version of Tylenol.
Investigators were led to Amy Martin, 29, of 24 Barnard St., Marblehead, a registered nurse, after a complaint in September from the niece of an elderly resident at Brightview Danvers. She said the pills she found in her aunt's medication container did not look like the ones she had been picking up for her at a pharmacy, according to a police report.
Martin is due in Salem District Court this morning, where she is expected to be arraigned on six counts of larceny of prescription drugs and a charge of possessing Class B controlled substances — other patients' medications that police found after they questioned her last October.
Martin confessed to police when confronted, according to court papers. When asked what she thought as she deprived residents of their pain medications, she told investigators she could not explain, other than to say that she herself was in pain "every day."
The case came to light in September, when the niece went to officials at the assisted-living facility on Endicott Street.
She said that not only did the supposed Vicodin pills in her aunt's case look different, but they had jagged edges where they had been split, according to Sgt. William Carleton's report. The niece said she uses a pill splitter to cut her aunt's medications, and that usually left smooth edges.
When officials at the facility checked the pills, they discovered that they were actually acetaminophen.
The facility arranged to leave more Vicodin in the aunt's medications case, and within a couple of days, those pills had been switched, as well.
The niece told officials that she had noticed something similar last January and had asked Martin, the nurse working with her aunt, about it. Martin said she would look into it, the niece said.
Management at Brightview contacted Danvers police at the beginning of October, and over the next several weeks, an investigation — including hidden cameras placed in several residents' rooms — revealed that more medication was being taken from patients.
Martin was caught on camera taking the medication container of one patient to a dining table, then returning it a few moments later. When investigators checked, the prescription pills had been replaced with acetaminophen.
Martin, who had worked at the facility for about a year at that point, was questioned by police on Oct. 25 and admitted to taking pills, Carleton wrote.
Police opted to seek a summons for her to appear in court instead of arresting her immediately.
"They followed the best protocol to protect their residents," police Sgt. Robert Bettencourt said of Brightview's role in the investigation. "They did the right thing and followed the proper procedure to keep their residents safe."
"At Brightview Danvers, our residents' safety and well-being is our top priority," said Beth Vellante, executive director of the facility, which has 185 residents.
"We applaud the alert action of our staff who immediately reported the former nurse's inconsistency in standard procedure, and we appreciate the Danvers Police Department for their guidance, support and direction throughout the investigation, as well as their discretion and respect for our residents as the matter was investigated."
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