A former Hospice employee has been arrested after she was found with numerous prescriptions from other people.
Law enforcement responded to call on Courtney Lane to help the Hamilton County Civil Process Division. The division said they located prescription medications with different names on each bottle, along with medical records for numerous patients.
Police spoke to Margaret Grimsley, 71, who said she is an employee of Avalon Hospice. An investigator contacted Avalon Hospice, who said employees are required to return medication and medical records to their office so staff can dispose of those items.
Avalon Hospice also told police they had fired Ms.
Grimsley a year ago because of mismanagement of medication. The hospice also told police they wished to prosecute Ms. Grimsley for theft of stolen medical records.
Law enforcement said there were 18 different forms of controlled substances. These include xanax, oxycodone, fentanyl, hydrocodone, gabapentine, hydomorphine, atropine, haloperidol, promethazine, mirtazadine, trazodone, acetaminophen, buspirom, carisoprodol, tramadol, prochlorper, lipocaine, morphine, and lorazerpam. Police said there was also 16.5 pounds of non-controlled substances, and none of those had her name on them.
After signing a Miranda statement, she was interviewed at the Chattanooga Narcotics Office. Police said she could not provide a reason as to why he still had those narcotics, and said she understood she was responsible for disposing of the narcotics and medical records. She told police she lost track of time and forgot to properly dispose of them.
She is facing identity theft and possession of several controlled substance charges.