A woman used a phony name to get narcotics administered intravenously to her at a Burnsville hospital, then ripped out her IV before trying to get away, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday in Dakota County.
Papers found in her purse revealed she was visiting various medical facilities to swindle them out of drugs, police alleged in court papers.
The scheme unraveled Monday night, when Burnsville police answered a call at Fairview Ridges Hospital for a fraud and theft report.
The emergency room staff reported that a woman provided an apparently false name, identifying herself as Katherine M. Depiro, 45. She was actually Kathleen M. Staples, 49, of St. Paul, the complaint says.
While she was at the hospital, Staples, using the name Depiro, was administered the painkiller morphine and the anti-anxiety medication Ativan. She was also given X-rays and other tests after complaining of shortness of breath as well as back, neck and chest pain.
"After being seen in the emergency room, 'Depiro' ripped out her IV and walked out of the emergency room into the lobby," the court papers say. "Emergency room staff could not find any records on the Internet of Depiro, and she did not have any identification or an insurance card."
A police officer spoke to the woman, and she identified herself as Staples, the complaint says. She told the officer that she used a fake name because she was a battered woman and didn't want her husband to find her.
The police officer arrested her, and she refused to give a statement. A search of her purse then revealed paperwork from several other medical facilities that she visited in the past two weeks, the court papers say.
