Now former nurse arrested for allegedly diverting opioids from Massachusetts hospital

BOSTON – A now former nurse has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston for allegedly diverting opioids from a Massachusetts hospital.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Justice, 38-year-old Andrea Falzano of Winchester was indicted on three counts of unlawfully obtaining controlled substances by fraud, deception and subterfuge. Falzano was arrested Friday morning and appeared in federal court in Boston before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge M. Page Kelley.

According to the indictment, while working as a registered nurse at a hospital in the Boston-area, Falzano acquired hydromorphone and morphine both of which are opioids and Schedule II controlled substances.

The charge of unlawfully obtaining controlled substances by fraud provides a sentence of up to four years in prison, one year 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

United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins; Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Office; and Margret R. Cooke, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Evan Panich of Rollins’ Narcotics & Money Laundering Unit is prosecuting the case.