A woman working as a nurse at a central Kentucky nursing home has been jailed after stealing medication from residents.
Abigail J. Hall, 50, of Lexington, was working as a nurse a Signature HealthCARE at Heritage Hall & Rehab Wellness Center in Lawrenceburg where she is accused of stealing morphine from the facility.
She was nabbed by police after someone reported an intoxicated person leaving the nursing home. The Lawrenceburg Police Department conducted a traffic stop and arrested Hall after she failed a field sobriety test, according to WKYT.com.
Police also located seven syringes containing a blue liquid in Hall’s backpack (which had been left outside the nursing home). The substance was later determined to be morphine.
When questioned, Hall admitted she stole patients’ medication and replaced it with “a mixture of water and blue food coloring,” WKYT.com reports. She began stealing medications in January 2023, she told police.
The Lexington television station reports that, according to her arrest citation, “another nurse at Heritage Hall saw Hall enter a bathroom on the property and leave behind the top of a morphine bottle. When the facility took inventory of their medication, they found 30 ml of morphine to be missing. The nurse said Hall signed out morphine for three patients during her shift.”
It’s unclear if Hall is actually a nurse, because one of her charges is knowingly posing as a registered nurse. She was additionally charged with theft by unlawful taking (controlled substance), possession of a controlled substance (opiates), tampering with physical evidence, felony wanton endangerment, knowingly abusing/neglecting an adult, and theft of legend drugs (re: prescription drugs).
She is lodged in the Shelby County Detention Center.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
