Tewksbury Woman Pleads Guilty To Stealing Morphine From Veterans

TEWKSBURY, MA — A Tewksbury woman pleaded guilty, Wednesday, to tampering with and diverting morphine intended for patients at the Bedford Veteran Affairs Medical Center.

Kathleen Noftle, 55, was a nurse in the hospice unit. She pleaded guilty to one count of tampering with a consumer product and one count of obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, deception and subterfuge.

In January, 2017, she used her position to obtain doses of morphine meant for veterans under her care, federal prosecutors said. Noftle admitted to mixing water from the sink into liquid morphine doses and then administering the diluted drug orally.

She then ingested a diluted amount of the remaining drug herself, prosecutors said.

Noftle was arrested and charged in Sept. 2019 and is due to be sentenced Feb. 24, 2021.

She faces up to 10 years in prison for the tampering charge and up to four years in prison for the charge of obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, deception and subterfuge.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.