Pembina County nurse accused of swapping medication given, ‘deal of a lifetime’

CAVALIER, N.D. — A longtime North Dakota choose stated Thursday, Feb. 9, he is by no means had any such extraordinary case.

He was referring to the 2 vastly totally different tales within the case of a Charlotte Reilly, a Pembina County nurse accused of swapping medicines at a nursing dwelling.

Prosecutors say again in 2017, when Reilly labored at Borg Pioneer Memorial House in Mountain, North Dakota, she stole prescription medicines from residents she cared for and changed them with over-the-counter medicines. In a single case, they allege she gave one girl drugs she was allergic to.

“The substitutions of these medicines may have triggered all kinds of very extreme diseases together with loss of life,” stated North Dakota Assistant Lawyer Basic Marina Spahr.

Reilly denied the allegations. Her lawyer factors to the truth that the state licensing board for nurses reviewed the case and gave Reilly her license again a few yr after she was fired from Borg Pioneer.

Reilly has been working as a nurse ever since, together with for the state.

“On one hand she is being prosecuted by the AGs workplace and the state of North Dakota, and on the second hand, she is being employed as a nurse by a state-run facility,” Reilly’s lawyer Blake Hankey stated in courtroom.

The lawyer normal’s workplace and Reilly’s lawyer lastly agreed to a plea deal.

North Dakota District Courtroom Decide Donovan Foughty on Thursday positioned Reilly on supervised probation for 2 years, and the convictions will stay on her report.

North Dakota was the final state within the nation to type a medicaid fraud management unit. It was shaped in 2019, and prosecutors filed their first case later that yr.

4 years later, that case is lastly closed.

Dozens packed the Pembina County courtroom, principally in assist of the defendant, Reilly.

“I have been on the bench for a few years and I’ve by no means seen the type of outpouring,” Foughty stated.

Reilly’s present boss Daybreak Bunn defended her in courtroom.

“She has honesty and integrity, and he or she is somebody who I’d entrust my household to,” Bunn stated.

Initially Reilly was going through almost a dozen felony costs. Below the phrases of the plea settlement, she entered Alford pleas to 2 misdemeanors: one rely of reckless endangerment and one rely of theft.

The Alford pleas imply Reilly admits there could also be sufficient proof to convict, however she maintains her innocence.

Prosecutors argued for 2 years of supervised probation, and that the fees keep on her report.

“That is already the deal of a lifetime,” Spahr stated.

Reilly’s lawyer requested for unsupervised probation, and as soon as full, the crimes are wiped off her report. Partially, the case has dragged out and Reilly has stayed out of hassle.

“Miss Reilly has jumped by means of each hoop that has ever been requested of her to do, and I do not know what else the courtroom can impose on her that she shouldn’t be already doing, we need to high quality folks like Charlotte Reilly, we wish high quality nurses to observe in under-served areas,” Hankey stated.

“I do imagine folks suffered attributable to your actions Miss Reilly,” stated Foughty, who cited his resolution on the factual foundation and responsible pleas.

“For individuals who really feel that this courtroom has not performed justice, you might be right,” Foughty stated.

The convictions will solely probably influence Reilly’s skill to work in federally funded amenities, not privately owned or state-run amenities.

Reilly’s lawyer stated because the state licensing board has already reviewed the case, they won’t take additional motion towards her nursing license.