MONROE, La. – Louisiana State Police say a registered nurse in Northeast Louisiana is accused of stealing pain medication from patients under hospice care.
Michael Boals, 43, was booked into jail on April 26, 2021, on charges involving thefts of controlled substances from four patients, who have since passed away. The thefts are said to have occurred in July and August of 2019.
State police say they learned of the matter in February 2021. That’s when they received information that controlled substances were being tampered with and removed from a secure room at West Carroll Memorial Hospital in Oak Grove.
At this time, Boals was working at the hospital and, as someone with access to the room, he was investigated by police.
Police say they learned Boals had previously been employed in 2019 by Elara Caring Hospice in Monroe. They also learned that he was under investigation for the alleged thefts, had already been fired in Sept. 2019, and had until the following month, which at the time was March 2021, to enter a consent order with the Louisiana State Board of Nursing on the allegations.
Police say the medication alleged to have been stolen from the hospice patients included dozens of doses of hydrocodone and Oxycodone, along with some morphine and Fentanyl. In many cases, investigators said, orders for medication were called into a Monroe pharmacy, picked up by Boals, and simply never delivered to the patient.
In one case, police allege, Boals instructed a patient to stop taking morphine for pain management and to start taking a weaker substitute. Police say Boals continued to pick up the morphine.
Boals was booked into the Ouachita Correctional Center on charges of:
- Cruelty to the Infirmed (10 counts)
- Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance, Schedule II (10 counts)
- Prohibited Acts all Schedules (10 counts)
- Theft (10 counts)
