Prosecutors: LI Man Got High Using Medical Waste
NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A licensed practical nurse was stealing medical waste from nursing homes in Suffolk County to feed a drug addiction, authorities said Thursday.
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1010 WINS' Mona Rivera reports
Prosecutors say Erick St. Louis, 33, of Shirley, removed trash bags containing blood vials, needles and pills from dumpsters at South Shore medical facilities at least seven times a year.
St. Louis apparently searched for fentanyl skin patches, a powerful synthetic drug used for pain management primarily by cancer patients, in order to get high, prosecutors said.
"He was actually sucking the residue of the patch as he described it to us the way you would eat an artichoke," Sufflk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said.
The narcotic skin patch is up to 100 times stronger than morphine and it is becoming a drug of choice for addicts, Spota said.
After getting the patches, St. Louis is accused of dumping the toxic medical waste in at least four locations, including a Bay Shore playground.
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