BECKLEY, W.Va. — A Kentucky woman who formerly worked as a traveling nurse has been sentenced for fraudulently obtaining opioids from Raleigh General Hospital.
Jacqueline Brewster, 55, of Belfry, Kentucky, was sentenced last Thursday to five years in prison and three years of supervised release for obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and wrongful disclosure of individually identifiable health information.
She was facing a maximum of 14 years in prison after she pled guilty to the charges in December 2024.
Brewster worked as a travel nurse at Raleigh General from September 2021 until February 2022 and admitted to accessing and using individually identifiable health information of patients to divert hydromorphone for her personal use.
She accessed automated controlled substance dispensing machines at Raleigh General by using her personal biometrics.
Brewster would check out the opioid for a patient. Once the machine’s drawers opened, she siphoned off a portion from the vital and diluted the remaining amount with another substance to make the vial look full.
The West Virginia Board of Registered Nurses has indefinitely suspended Brewster from practicing nursing in the state.