Attorney General Luther Strange announced the conviction of the former director of nursing of a Birmingham area nursing home for theft of more than 1,800 Hydrocodone pills from the facility. Marie White Tucker, 56, of Carbon Hill, was convicted after a day-long jury trial in Jefferson County Circuit Court.
Assistant Attorney General Jon Moody of the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit presented evidence to a Jefferson County jury, resulting in Tucker’s conviction today for theft of property in the second degree.
The evidence presented at trial established that Tucker, a registered nurse and the director of nursing at North Hill Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, was diverting Hydrocodone, a controlled substance, which had been discontinued or was scheduled to be destroyed. This was discovered when staff reported the medications had not been logged correctly.
Theft of property in the second degree is a class C felony with a possible sentence of a year and a day to ten years of incarceration in the Alabama Department of Corrections. Because Hydrocodone is a controlled substance the theft is automatically classified as theft of property second degree. Circuit Judge Clyde Jones ordered Tucker taken into custody immediately after the verdict. He set sentencing for December 12, 2016.
Attorney General Strange commended his Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which handled the investigation, and Assistant Attorney General Moody for his skillful presentation of the case at trial. Attorney General Strange also thanked the staff and administration of North Hill Nursing and Rehabilitation Center for their cooperation and assistance.
