A former Denver Health paramedic has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for tampering with fentanyl intended for patient use.
Christopher Robert Pattinson, 41, of Commerce City, was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Colorado, news release.
Pattinson, a former paramedic field lieutenant supervisor, stole about 1,900 vials of fentanyl from his department over a four-year period for his personal use, the release said.
In the last few months of his employment Pattinson, who concealed his crimes by altering hospital narcotics logs and making false entries in the hospital records, tampered with fentanyl vials intended for patient use. Pattinson tampered with the narcotics, removing fentanyl vials from a locked narcotics supply cabinet, and replacing the drug with a clear liquid believed to be saline, according to the release. He then returned tampered fentanyl vials to the locked narcotics supply cabinet and placed tampered vials in narcotics kits to be used on ambulances that responded to emergencies.
“We won’t tolerate medical professionals who put patients at risk,” U.S. Attorney Cole Finegan said in the release. “Drug addiction is tragic, but it’s no excuse for harming patients – this conduct will send you to prison for a long time.”
The case was investigated by the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Pattinson, who entered a plea agreement in the case, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release after his prison term.
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