A University Hospital employee dispensed a prescription for 40 syringes of Demerol, a painkiller similar to morphine, to a man who claimed to be a home health care worker, according to a police report.
The man said he needed the drug for his employer, a recently discharged hospital patient, the police report stated.
The hospital employee gave the prescription to the man July 1, but afterward became suspicious that the man was only posing as a home health care worker. The incident was not reported until July 11.
University Police detective Brad Herberg said the hospital does not know if the suspect was actually a home health care worker and that police are investigating the case.
He added that the Demerol prescription was made out to a patient who employs a home health care worker. But the worker is on vacation, and Herberg said police can’t find out whether the patient received the Demerol until they talk to the worker.
In other police news occurring from July 8 to July 16:
ù Three men were arrested Monday at a Super America on the 3000 block of University Avenue Southeast for stealing a carton of cigarettes and a car, according to a Minneapolis police report.
The men took the cigarettes from the gas station Sunday and then returned to the gas station Monday to get gas for a stolen car. The report stated the gas station attendant recognized the men as the cigarette thieves and notified the police. When the police arrived they identified the stolen vehicle and arrested the men.
ù Last week, University Police issued three trespass warnings in Blegen and Willey halls.
The warnings were issued because police said they believe the men involved were lurking in the bathrooms looking for anonymous sex. The men were not University students or staff.
ù An ear, nose and throat physician at the University faces poaching charges after he shot and killed a deer June 18 on his Manitou Island property in White Bear Lake.
Dr. Arndt J. Duvall was charged with a gross misdemeanor for shooting an animal out of season, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Captain Paul Rice, regional supervisor for the Department of Natural Resources, said a fawn seen feeding alone on the island may have belonged to the dead deer.