Former Nurse Pleads Guilty To Diverting Fentanyl from ICU Patient at Concord Hospital

CONCORD – A Northfield woman pleaded guilty today in federal court for diverting fentanyl from an ICU patient at Concord Hospital, U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young announces.

Lisa Richardson, 48, pleaded guilty to one count of Tampering with Consumer Products. U.S. District Court Judge Landya McCafferty scheduled sentencing for January 16, 2025.

On December 30, 2022, while working as a nurse at Concord Hospital, Richardson removed a quantity of fentanyl from an intravenous line bag inserted in an Intensive Care Unit patient. She then replaced the fentanyl with saline. The defendant was not assigned to the patient’s care as part of her duties as a nurse.

The charging statute provides a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

The Food & Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration jointly led this investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Ward is prosecuting the cases.

Law enforcement in the District of New Hampshire has utilized resources to enforce federal laws in connection with the diversion of dangerous narcotics by medical professionals. In July 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s Office settled a $300,000 civil action with Catholic Medical Center to resolve allegations they violated the Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”), by failing to keep accurate records of controlled substances, which enabled a nurse anesthetist to steal hundreds of doses of fentanyl over the course of a year. In June 2023, the U.S. Attorney’s Office settled a $2 million civil action with Cheshire Medical Center for their failure to fulfill obligations under the CSA, which enabled a nurse to steal twenty-three intravenous bags of fentanyl solution from an automatic medication dispensing machine. Also in June 2023, the U.S. Attorney’s Office settled a $300,000 civil action with PillPack by Amazon, a pharmacy, to resolve allegations that they violated the CSA, which risked the division of drugs that are often abused in our communities.