A 69-year-old nurse is charged with stealing methadone and suboxone by faking their destruction during her work at Suffolk County House of Correction.
“Drug controls and protocols in jails and prisons are in place for good reasons, including the fact that many inmates are incarcerated for drug distribution and trafficking charges,” Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a statement following her arraignment. “The security aspects of those protocols are ultimately what provided the evidence to move forward with these charges.”
Mary Forte, of Boston, appeared in the Roxbury division of Boston Municipal Court on Wednesday to be arraigned on two counts each of obtaining a drug by fraud and larceny of a drug and one count of forgery of a document. Prosecutors say that she diverted 1,992 milliliters of methadone; 1,798 8mg pills of suboxone; and forged 89 signatures.
Judge Dana Pierce released Forte on personal recognizance and ordered her back to court on Dec. 2 for a hearing to appoint counsel.
The state Department of Health’s Drug Control Program received a tip in December 2023 that a House of Correction hospital employee was possibly diverting methadone and suboxone while pretending to discard.
Forte’s hospital, where prosecutors say she has worked since 2012, has a protocol to make sure that drugs are disposed of properly, according to prosecutors. That means disposal is to be done by two nurses in full view of a surveillance camera and that each is then to sign discharge paperwork.
Prosecutors say that Forte was forging another nurse’s signature for months without the other nurse’s knowledge or consent. Further, Forte would allegedly get the drugs in an unmonitored room and then, when returning to purportedly dispose of the drugs, would place her body in such a way to block the camera’s view of her actions.
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