JACKSON – An employee of a Perry County nursing home has been arrested for allegedly taking drugs from the facility that were meant for a patient. Authorities said Cindy McIlwain, 34, of Buckatunna, was arrested on May 6 and charged with “acquiring or obtaining possession of a controlled substance or prescription by misrepresentation, fraud, subterfuge or deception.”
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood said the charges stem from an incident at the Perry County Nursing Center where McIlwain was employed as an LPN.
Hood said on or about Nov. 29, 2009, McIlwain took Lortab, a controlled substance prescribed for pain, from the nurse’s cart without documenting or appropriately dispensing the drug to the patient.
Hood said this action was a direct violation of Mississippi Code Ann. 41-29-144(1) (1972, as amended.
An investigation was launched by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Attorney General’s office and McIlwain was arrested last week following an indictment by the Perry County Grand Jury. She was later transported to the Perry County jail.
If convicted, McIlwain faces up to five years in jail and a $1,000 fine.
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