A former hospital employee faces 10 years in prison after pleading guilty last week to a federal charge related to her theft of opioid medications that were prescribed to more than 100 patients. 

The employee, 35-year-old Shelbi Wolken of Wheat Ridge, allegedly used the patients’ information to pick up the patients’ prescriptions at the hospital’s in-house pharmacy herself. She then allegedly replaced the prescribed pain medications (oxycodone and hydromorphone, both opioids) with ibuprofen, aspirin, acetaminophen, caffeine and lotradine (an antihistamine commonly sold as Claritin). 

Investigators determined Wolken picked up approximately 139 prescriptions for approximately 127 patients over eight months. Some of those patients told investigators they suffered no ill effects. But others reported feeling significant to severe pain and being unable to sleep, including two women who had given birth by cesarian section, per the court document. A third woman who underwent a different procedure described the pain caused by the inadequate medication as “agony.” Yet another patient who suffered from internal bleeding and was already on blood thinners told investigators the prescription she was given “almost killed her,” as stated in the case document.  

At the time, Wolken was a case management coordinator for Intermountain Health, a regional, Salt Lake City-based, non-profit hospital chain. A case manager serves as a liaison between patients and the physicians, and often arranges services for patients upon their release from the hospital. 

Saint Joseph’s Hospital personnel first noticed Wolken’s illicit activity on July 1, 2024, according to a case document. They viewed surveillance camera footage that showed Wolken walking into a bathroom after obtaining a patient’s prescription at the hospital pharmacy. 

Intermountain Health officials intercepted the prescription and found allergy pills inside. Records showed Wolken purchased the allergy pills earlier in the day at the same pharmacy. When hospital officials interviewed Wolken, she admitted to using her badge and position to gain access to at least 10 prescriptions, according to the case document, while working at Saint Joseph’s in Denver, Luthern Hospital in Wheat Ridge, and Good Samaritan in Lafayette. 

Six weeks after the hospital’s discovery, federal investigators from the Food and Drug Administration and Drug Enforcement Administration visited Wolken at her home. According to the case document, it was during this meeting that Wolken confessed to having an opioid addiction and to being conscious of the risks she exposed patients to — including injury or death.

Wolken is scheduled to be sentenced June 10. Federal sentencing guidelines recommend a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Prosecutors, however, acknowledge in the plea agreement filed Thursday that the judge could consider reduced sentence based on Wolken’s acceptance of responsibility for her actions.   

A spokesperson for Intermountain Health confirmed Wolken is no longer employed there. 

Intermountain Health operates 33 hospitals (including a virtual facility) and more than 400 medical clinics in Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming. It was founded by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the late 1800’s and merged with a Catholic-driven non-profit healthcare system, SCL Health, in 2022. Intermountain Health now employs more than 60,000 people.

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