A former assisted living facility employee in Kalispell today admitted that she tampered with packaging and took pain medications intended for patients, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Nicole Elice Anderson, 39, of Post Falls, Idaho, pleaded guilty to unlawfully obtaining controlled substances before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathleen L. DeSoto. She faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison, a $240,000 fine and one year of supervised release.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 12, 2025 before U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen.
Anderson was released pending further proceedings.
According to court documents, Anderson from approximately February 2023 to March 2023 obtained oxycodone and hydrocodone by fraud and deception.
In March 2023, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents were alerted to a drug diversion at Prestige Assisted Living in Kalispell in which 120 hydrocodone tablets for a patient had been substituted with Tylenol. Seven medication cards and an oxycodone blister pack had evidence of tampering and Prestige staff identified Anderson as one of the two employees who had access to the drugs when they were taken.
Management interviewed Anderson and the other employee and both staff submitted to drug tests. Anderson quit before the results came back and she tested positive for oxycodone. The other employee tested negative for the same drug.
The investigation determined that Anderson was prescribed a significant amount of hydrocodone, but not oxycodone, between February 2021 and March 2023 from seven different providers. Additionally, witnesses described Anderson checking out medications for patients who did not receive drugs.
Anderson admitted to multiple coworkers that she was prescribed hydrocodone for back pain, developed an addiction and routinely ran out of her prescription. She asked several staff members for pain medication.
Anderson later started working at an assisted living facility in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and police officers in June 2023 responded to a reported theft of hydrocodone from the facility. Management found multiple medication packs had been tampered with and that hydrocodone and hydromorphone pills had been replaced with Tylenol and anti-anxiety medication.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case. The DEA conducted the investigation.