Minn. nurse pleads guilty in hospital meds theft

MINNEAPOLIS — A nurse has pleaded guilty to siphoning pain medication from intravenous bags at a Minnesota hospital and replacing it with saline solution.

Blake Daniel Zenner of Kimball pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to one count of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud.

In his plea agreement, Zenner admitted that he siphoned Dilaudid from IV bags at a St. Cloud hospital from November 2010 to March 2011. Prosecutors say he sometimes injected the bags with saline solution to replace the missing Dilaudid. The government alleges about 25 hospital patients were infected with bacteria as a result.

Defense attorney Paul Engh earlier disputed that Zenner caused the infections. The infected patients were successfully treated with antibiotics.

Zenner faces up to four years in prison. A sentencing date has not been set.

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