Ripley Nurse Accused Of Stealing Drugs From Patients

Jackson, MS—A Ripley nurse is facing charges she took controlled substances away from patients, announced Attorney General Jim Hood today.

Sarah Lepard, 27, of Ripley, turned herself into authorities Wednesday after being indicted by a Tippah County Grand Jury on two counts of acquiring or obtaining possession of a controlled substance or prescription “by misrepresentation, fraud and the like” and one count of Medicaid Fraud. At the time the crimes are alleged to have been committed, Lepard worked as a licensed practical nurse at Golden Living Center in Ripley. The indictment charges Lepard with obtaining schedule two controlled substances, Oxycodone and Hydrocodone, from two patients at the facility by signing the drugs out without dispensing to the patients prescribed the drugs.

Lepard was booked into the Tippah County jail and released on a $10,000.00 bond.  If convicted, she faces up to five years behind bars.  As with all cases, the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The case is being investigated by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit with assistance from the Tippah County Sheriff’s Office.