HORSEHEADS, N.Y. — A nurse has pleaded guilty to stealing nearly 200 pills from elderly patients at the Elcor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Horseheads.
Lisa Rumsmoke Clark, 45, of Watkins Glen, has admitted to the crime, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a news release.
Rumsmoke Clark pleaded guilty to petit larceny before Horseheads Town Court Justice Craig Banfield. The judge sentenced her to 60 days of straight time in the Chemung County Jail and three years of probation.
“Nurses are responsible for providing comfort and care to their patients, not stealing narcotics from those who need them for pain relief,” Schneiderman said in the news release.
An investigation found that Rumsmoke Clark completed several records indicating that she administered drugs to eight separate residents, while actually diverting those drugs for her own personal use. She completed those records over a “roughly” one-month period, Schneiderman’s office said.
The attorney general’s Medicaid fraud-control unit and the New York State Department of Health’s bureau of narcotics enforcement launched the investigation.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com