B.C. nurse accused of trafficking drugs to inmates at maximum security prison

A B.C. nurse is the subject of at least two investigations into allegations he was trafficking prescription drugs to inmates at a maximum security prison, according to new court documents.

The registered nurse was working at Kent Institution in Agassiz in late 2021 when the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) began investigating "discrepancies" in his handling of medication, according to a recent petition filed by the B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives.

The college opened its own investigation and has now turned to the court to ask for an order requiring the nurse to turn over his banking and cellphone records.

To date, the petition says, he has "refused to provide the requested information."

CBC is not naming the nurse as no charges have been laid. None of the allegations in the petition have been proven in court and the nurse has yet to file a response.

The 50-year-old RN resigned from his position at the prison on Dec. 20, 2021, four days after he learned that he was under investigation, according to the petition. He remains a fully licensed nurse.

A CSC spokesperson wrote in the email that the department is aware of the case, but she could not comment further for privacy reasons.

A lawyer for the nurse has yet to respond to requests for comment.

'Boss beater' phone turned over by inmate: college

The petition says that officials at Kent Institution began investigating the nurse in the fall of 2021 while he was on leave from work. The facility, about 130 kilometres east of Vancouver, is B.C.'s only maximum security prison.

An affidavit from a professional conduct review consultant with the college alleges that an inmate told staff a nurse had been selling drugs from the prison's stock and accepting e-transfer payments to his personal bank account.

A second inmate also came forward with a so-called "boss beater" cellphone that prisoners were using to send money to the nurse, according to the petition. The SIM card had been removed, but the nurse's number was allegedly saved to the phone.

Both inmates have been rated by the CSC as "reliable," the petition says.

Between January and October of 2021, the RN worked as an infectious disease nurse, then as a line nurse at the prison, court documents show.

Distributing medications is not normally part of the job of an infectious disease nurse, according to the consultant's affidavit. Nonetheless, CSC officials told the college that the nurse "would still accompany line nurses to the medication distribution wicket for the evening medication line, despite it not being a regular function" of his job.

The college was informed about the CSC investigation on Dec. 29, 2021.

It is now asking for a court order compelling the nurse to produce all records for bank accounts where he received or conducted transfers between December 2020 and December 2021, as well as all phone records related to money transfers during the same period.

"Legal counsel with the college believes that the records sought in this proceeding may disclose evidence that the respondent has contravened the [Health Professions] Act, its regulations, college bylaws and/or committed professional misconduct," the petition reads.

The nurse has so far declined to supply those records.

In a Nov. 16, 2022, letter to the college, submitted as part of an affidavit to the court, the nurse's lawyer wrote that she does not believe the Health Professions Act gives the college the authority to access a nurse's banking or phone records.

The petition points to the case of Amanda Parniak, a former nurse whose licence was cancelled for professional misconduct after she was found to have diverted a significant amount of narcotics from her employer over a six-month period.

A court date has yet to be set for a hearing of the college petition.