Alleged painkiller thief pleads innocent

POLSON — A 24-year-old Polson woman pleaded innocent in District Court April 20 for allegedly trying to steal a painkiller patch off a hospital patient.

Charges against Michelle Nault stemmed from a Nov. 23, 2010 incident at the Polson Health and Rehab Center.

A nurse at the center alerted authorities after she entered a patient’s room and saw Nault, also a nurse at the center leaning into the hospital room through the window. According to court documents, Dempsey said that Nault was balanced on her abdomen on the windowsill, with her hand outstretched toward the Fentanyl patch on the patient’s left shoulder.

When Dempsey asked her coworker what she was doing, Nault allegedly said nothing, but dropped out the window and ran toward her car in the parking lot.

Employees at the center reported to law enforcement that other patches of Fentanyl, an opiate approximately 100 times stronger than Morphine, had gone missing in the past.

The felony charge against Nault, Attempt, carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $50,000 fine.

Nault also faces a second charge, possession of dangerous drugs, for allegedly being found in possession of less than 60 grams of Ambien in January.

Judge C. B. McNeil set an omnibus hearing for June 15 and a jury trial for August 15. Nault remains at liberty.