Woman Arrested for Stealing Pain Patch off Elderly Patient
EmailABC News' Brennan McCord reports:
A woman was arrested in Greeley, Colorado for allegedly attempting to steal a pain patch off an at risk elderly patient at the Good Samaritan Society Bonell Community on Thursday.
Hillary Hartwig, 35, was a former physical therapy assistant at the facility and “knew the ins and outs of the process in taking the patch on and off” according to Sergeant Joe Tymkowych of the Greeley Police Department.
“The patients knew her there and so it was easy for her to have access. She was in the process of taking the patch off the patient when someone walked in and saw what was going on and she franticly put the patch back on the skin of the patient,” Tymkowych told ABC News.
According to the police investigation, the pain patch that Hartwig is accused of attempting to steal was a Fentanyl pain patch which is more powerful than the drug codeine, and is used to to treat chronic pain and is also commonly used in pre-medical procedures.
Hartwig was using the pain patches for her own use according to the investigation. According to Tymkowych said that she had been stealing pain patches for weeks.
Hartwig has been released on a $20,000 bond and formal charges will be filed on May 3rd. Hartwig has not entered a plea.
Return to Cuomo on the Case: http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/
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This is just wrong. make this poor woman suffer in pain while she gets high. LOSER.
Posted by: marcy | April 26, 2010, 6:33 pm 6:33 pm
Did the thief want to get high? Or was she uninsured and in so much pain that she rationalized that the elderly woman could replace the patch and her insurance would cover it? There’s a lot of leeway here before we jump to conclusions.
Posted by: The_Mick | April 27, 2010, 12:17 am 12:17 am
Was she an addict in need of treatment or in pain & in need of treatment? Either way she has a disease that needs help.
It’s easy to call an addict a loser, scum bag, byotch BUT in this day & age how many of us do not know an addict?
Sad, sad, sad.
No matter how you spin it an addict is a sad person in need of help.
Now, if the addict is physically hurting or killing ppl to support said habit then let em fry.
Posted by: Fran76 | May 4, 2010, 7:39 am 7:39 am
This is a real low, when someone steals a pain patch from the elderly? Really? I wish we could involuntarily have people like this committed to detox. They clearly are not in control of themselves if they are doing this!
Posted by: Abbi | May 5, 2010, 1:42 pm 1:42 pm