Mason City woman pleads guilty to federal charges of stealing drugs from patients

MASON CITY — A Mason City woman accused of federal charges of stealing drugs and illegally accessing patient information has pleaded guilty.

32-year-old Samantha Rogers pleaded guilty on Monday in US District Court in Cedar Rapids to the charges of acquiring a controlled substance by fraud, wrongfully obtaining health information for personal gain, and making false statements related to health care manners. Federal authorities say the charges stemmed from activity between October of 2017 and May of last year.

According to the criminal complaint, Rogers was fired in January 2017 from the IOOF home after allegedly being caught on video taking prescription pills from the purse of another employee. She continued to be employed at Mercy-North Iowa when a nursing aide reported pain pills missing from her purse in May 2017.

Rogers then was accused of accessing patient records after being hired to work at Northern Iowa Therapy in Waverly in September 2017 in attempts to obtain or steal prescription medication. She’s suspected of taking a patient’s unused Percocet and of breaking into another patient’s home in Forest City in a search for drugs.

No sentencing date has been scheduled.