BANGOR (AP) – A former nurse from Bangor has been indicted on federal charges for allegedly stealing and consuming pain medicine that was prescribed for an elderly patient in a Howland nursing home.

Nancy Dean, 43, was scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 14 in U.S. District Court on two counts of tampering with consumer products. If convicted, she faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, U.S. Attorney Paula Silsby said.

The prosecution alleges that Dean, while working in May 2000 as a registered nurse at Cummings Health Care Facility, removed 14 morphine pills earmarked for the patient and substituted nitroglycerine tablets.

Dean also was accused of removing liquid morphine from 11 injectibles in the patient’s supply and replacing it with a saline solution.

In an interview with a detective soon after the drugs were discovered missing, Dean admitted to diverting the morphine for her own use and displayed what appeared to be recent “track marks” on her arms, according to an affidavit by Frank Lombardo, a criminal investigator with the Food and Drug Administration.

The withholding of morphine and substitution of nitroglycerine caused acute changes in the condition of the patient, Erma White, increasing the stress on her family, according to her doctor, Kathleen Pelkey.

“In addition, Dr. Pelkey opined that the withholding of morphine from Ms. White caused a combination of autonomic motor and psychological withdrawal responses which stressed her fragile patient with ‘nearly unbearable symptoms’ and placed her at risk of a poor outcome,” Lombardo’s affidavit said.

Dean ended her employment at the nursing home after she admitted stealing the drugs, according to Susan Bailey, its nursing director. Dean moved to Texas soon after and apparently returned to Maine last year.

Silsby said she hopes the case will deter any other health care professionals who are tempted to steal drugs prescribed for patients.

Dean’s attorney, Rick Hartley, said his client intends to plead innocent.

AP-ES-01-07-04 1516EST