MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Emmanuel Valentin had spent just one month as a nurse at HCA Florida Kendall Hospital before he got caught stealing fentanyl Thursday, according to Miami-Dade police.
According to an arrest report, security staff at the southwest Miami-Dade hospital became suspicious after seeing Valentin, 38, access the secure narcotics storage area using a code and a thumbprint, take vials of fentanyl, leave, then come back to place the vials back into storage.
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The area is heavily-monitored by surveillance cameras in order to prevent the misuse of controlled substances, police said.
Police said Valentin canceled out a log entry he used to check out the vials and then logged that he had removed the vials in order to give the medication to a patient.
Valentin would soon clock out and leave the hospital before the end of his work shift, which security staff found “odd,” the arrest report states.
Police said security staff later contacted Valentin and asked him to return to the hospital. According to the report, the hospital’s security and human resources directors confronted him upon his return and he admitted to stealing fentanyl.
The report states that Valentin told them that it was “not the first time” he had stolen the drug and described his method of swapping out fentanyl for a saline solution using the same needle and syringe.
Police said he also admitted to using the same method to steal midazolam, a benzodiazepine commonly known by the brand name Versed, and said he “self-medicates,” injecting the stolen drugs when he goes back to his home in Cutler Bay.
Security staffers found that he had stolen 20 vials of fentanyl and midazolam the previous day, the report states.
According to the arrest report, Valentin told detectives that prior to becoming a nurse three years ago, he was a “frequent user” of opioids and marijuana.
He was charged with grand theft, tampering with a consumer product and criminal use of personal identification.
Valentin, seen in his Miami-Dade mugshot wearing hospital scrubs, was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $22,500 bond as of Friday afternoon.
The hospital released a statement:
“We are aware of the serious allegations. HCA Florida Kendall Hospital has safeguards in place to ensure medications are administered and accounted for properly,” an HCA Florida Kendall Hospital spokesperson said. “These safeguards led to the discovery of some discrepancies, and we notified police and are assisting with their investigation.”