By Robert Patrick
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS — Two nurses, a paramedic and a pharmacist were indicted on charges of stealing pain medications and other drugs from hospitals and a pharmacy, prosecutors said Thursday.
Each was charged with receipt of controlled substance medications by deceit, fraud and misrepresentation. Prosecutors allege they stole the drugs from locked medication cabinets where they worked and falsified records to cover up the thefts.
Prosecutors said Alyssa Wedepohl, 29, of Hillsboro, stole hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxycodone, morphine, man-made THC, the anti-anxiety drug Lorazepam, and the pain pill Tramadol while working as a nurse at Mercy Hospital South between October 2018 and May 2019.
Jessica Powell, 32, of St. Louis County, stole hydromorphone and oxycodone between Feb. 13, 2017 and Feb. 14, 2018 while a nurse working for Davita Hospital Services in the dialysis unit of DePaul Hospital in Bridgeton and SSM Health Lake Saint Louis Hospital, prosecutors said.
Jacob Gottreu, 26, of St. Charles, stole fentanyl while working in the SSM Health DePaul Hospital ER as a paramedic between May 1 and June 12, 2019, prosecutors said.
Rebekkah Johnson, 27, of St. Louis, stole three types of ADHD drugs while working the night shift as a pharmacist at the CVS in Clayton in 2019, prosecutors said.
Each could face up to four years in prison if convicted, prosecutors said.
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