Denver (AP) – A surgery technician pleaded guilty July 12 to taking fentanyl – an opiate more powerful than morphine – from a suburban Denver hospital – a crime that raised concerns that hundreds of patients might have been exposed to HIV.
Rocky Allen, a former Navy medic who authorities say is HIV positive and got hooked on painkillers while serving in Afghanistan, pleaded guilty to federal charges of tampering with a consumer product and obtaining a controlled substance by deception.
Allen was fired in January from Swedish Medical Center after another worker said he saw that Allen had switched a fentanyl syringe with one containing saline. The situation led the hospital to urge nearly 3,000 patients treated during Allen’s time at the medical center to be tested for hepatitis and HIV.
A case summary filed in court by prosecutors said Allen did not protest when was fired from a series of hospitals around the West where he was suspected of stealing syringes from operating rooms and was once found passed out in a bathroom stall with a syringe.
Allen previously told officials at Lakewood Surgery Center in Washington state, “‘Oh yeah, I totally understand,'” when he was fired after fentanyl vials disappeared, the summary states.
Allen wore a gray suit in court and calmly answered questions from Judge Raymond Moore about whether he understood his guilty plea. Allen remains free on bail and declined comment as he left the courthouse.
Moore said July 12 he wants investigators to tell him whether the replacement needle that Allen left behind at Swedish was dirty or clean. He said that would be an important factor in determining a sentence for Allen, who could face up to 14 years in prison.
The court document filed by prosecutors alleges Allen didn’t reveal his previous jobs when applying for new positions and said he had been laid off instead of fired.
In some cases, he lied on applications by saying he had never been convicted of a crime even though he pleaded guilty in 2011 to stealing 30 vials of fentanyl and a fentanyl syringe and making false statements, prosecutors said.
During his court martial in 2011, Allen said he suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder and that he stole the drugs to “try to escape” Kandahar, Afghanistan. He was sentenced then to 30 days behind bars and received a general discharge.
