Charges That Nursing Assistant Stole Pain Patches From Residents Of A Retirement Home (

By Jenna Portnoy

OF THE MORNING CALL

February 9, 2010

A nursing assistant fed her drug habit with used pain patches she peeled off of two female residents at a retirement home in Telford last month, a borough police lieutenant testified during a preliminary hearing Monday.

Andrea Markland, 26, of Quakertown was ordered to face trial in Bucks County Court on charges she stole Fentanyl patches prescribed to two women in their mid-80s, one of whom has since died. Markland, who is free on unsecured bail, did not speak during the 20-minute hearing before District Judge Charles Baum.

''To think what she did could have caused this woman pain in her last days' Telford police Lt. Randall Floyd said after the hearing.

He said Markland should not be eligible for a first-time offender program because of what he called the violent nature of the crime. Although the incident was not uncovered through the county's elder abuse task force, the county puts special focus on such crimes.

Copyright © 2010, The Morning Call

Abridged
SOURCE:     The Morning Call
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