CLEARFIELD – A St. Marys woman charged with taking fentanyl patches from her employer pleaded guilty during last week’s session of plea and sentencing court in Clearfield County.
Carolyn M. Taylor, 43, 468 West Creek Rd., St. Marys, currently an inmate of the Elk County Jail, pleaded guilty to acquiring or obtaining possession of a controlled substance by misrepresentation, five counts of theft by deception and tampering with records. She was sentenced to 121 days to one year in jail and two years consecutive probation. She was fined $475 plus costs.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, police were called to a nursing home in Lawrence Township for a report of a care giver stealing fentanyl patches. The employee, Taylor, admitted to police that she has a percocet dependency problem. She stated she had been eating so many that she had developed stomach problems. She then started using the patches instead so she could avoid getting sick.
Taylor admitted she took a patch every six to 10 days for a month. She obtained the patches from the drug locker by falsifying the dates that new drugs would be needed for the residents, which covered up the fact that she was taking them. This way she obtained them for her own use without denying the residents their medication.
She also pleaded guilty to writing bad checks in two cases. For this she received two years concurrent probation. She was fined $200 plus costs and must pay restitution of over $677.