A man who worked as a nurse pleaded guilty Wednesday to replacing opioids intended for hospice and memory care patients with lookalike allergy pills at a health care facility in Fitchburg, according to prosecutors and court records. <\/p>\n
Andrew Milgrim, 41, of Gardner, was charged with one count of tampering with a consumer product in federal court in Worcester, according to the office of Leah B. Foley, US Attorney for Massachusetts.<\/p>\n
Milgrim is expected to be sentenced Jan. 7, 2027, Foley\u2019s office said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Court records show Milgrim also worked as an LPN in California, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Virginia. He was terminated from the facilities in Vermont and Virginia. <\/p>\n
\u201cBoth dismissals involved allegations of tampering and\/or diverting patients\u2019 narcotics,\u201d court papers state. <\/p>\n
None of the facilities were identified. <\/p>\n
In Fitchburg, beginning around September 2024, Milgrim took oxycodone from patients in the skilled nursing and dementia care unit of a health care facility in Fitchburg, the statement said. <\/p>\n
The 5-milligram pills were intended to be dispensed to certain patients \u201cas needed,\u201d but Milgrim began taking them himself, Foley\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n
He would replace the medication with an allergy drug, Loratadine, which looks similar to the 5-milligram Oxycodone pills, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n
He continued to take the pills until around February 2025, according to the statement.<\/p>\n
Around January 2025, he also took 10-milligram oxycodone pills from an elderly patient in the memory care unit, and replaced those pills with a thyroid medication, Levothyroxine, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n
Milgrim was charged in July.<\/p>\n
Tampering with a consumer product can result in a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and may include a fine up to $250,000, according to Foley\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n