Nursing home employee charged with stealing drugs from facility

A Jackson nursing home employee was recently charged with stealing morphine from the facility's pharmacy after a concerned boyfriend notified police.

Investigators said the man suspected his girlfriend, Tracy L. Walker, 26, of stealing drugs from her employer, Monticello House Nursing Home, and called police because he was worried she had a drug problem.

"Ms. Walker's boyfriend found a bottle of morphine sulfate in (her) purse," said Jackson patrolman Darrell Severs in a probable cause statement. "Ms. Walker admitted to stealing the morphine from her workplace out of the pharmacy."

Walker faces charges of felony stealing and possession of a controlled substance. A warrant was issued for her arrest on Dec. 28. She posted a $10,000 surety bond and was released the same day.

Assistant prosecuting attorney Ian Sutherland filed the charges.

'Has to want' treatment

"I feel so sorry for these people, but I just don't know what else works," Sutherland said. "The first step in any treatment is that the person has to want it."

The serial numbers on the morphine bottle from Walker's purse matched the numbers used by the Monticello House pharmacy, Severs said. A message left for the home administrator, Gary Crane, was not returned as of late Thursday.

Monticello House added a new 75-bed, skilled-nursing facility in 2001 to its existing 62-room residential nursing home at 1115 K-Land Drive in Jackson.

According to court documents, Walker's initial appearance was delayed due to a hospital stay. Her attorney, public defender Jennifer Booth, would not comment on the case or her client's condition.

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Jan. 23 at 1 p.m. in Jackson.

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160