In 2015, administrators at the Pocopson Home, a county-run nursing home on Route 52 in Pocopson Township, began noticing the disappearance of morphine and other controlled substances, prosecutors said.

On Tuesday, July 28, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan announced the arrest of a licensed practical nurse who had worked at the facility. Carolyn A. Howett, 36, of Coatesville, faces charges that include theft, acquisition of controlled substances by fraud, forgery, and related offenses, Hogan said.

“Nursing is a noble profession, dedicated to caring for sick and disabled patients,” Hogan said in a press release. “This defendant betrayed her profession, her employers, and her patients by stealing drugs. She does not deserve to serve as a nurse ever again.”

According to the criminal complaint, officials at Pocopson Home sought assistance from the Chester County Detectives to investigate the missing drugs. The detectives learned that nurses regularly administer and dispose of powerful narcotics, such as morphine, as part of their duties, the complaint said.

When one of the patients under Howett’s care died, the drugs prescribed for that patient should have been destroyed and documented as such in the home’s password-protected electronic system, the complaint said. Although the system indicated the drugs had been destroyed, a nurse listed as a witness to the destruction said that her signature had been forged on one form and that she didn’t witness the destruction of the drugs on three other forms, the complaint said.

Detectives executed a search warrant on June 5 at Howett’s home and found the prescribed drugs, identified by information on the vial, in her bedroom, the complaint said.

The complaint said detectives also seized other controlled substances traced to the Pocopson Home. It said a detective interviewed Howett the same day and she “denied any knowledge as to how the controlled substance came to be in her bedroom.” The complaint said she quit her job on June 19, and started working for another nursing organization, where she also had access to controlled substances.

Hogan said police charged Howett's live-in boyfriend, Arthur V. Dillard, 31, with possession with the intent to deliver cocaine.

Court records said Magisterial District Judge Daniel J. Maisano arraigned Howell on Tuesday, July 28. He set bail at $50,000 cash, which she was not able to post. She was remanded to Chester County Prison to await a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, Aug. 4, records said.

“All over the region, people are overdosing and dying from opiate abuse,” Hogan said in the release. “The last thing we need is a license nurse stealing morphine from a nursing home and adding to this ever-growing problem.”

Hogan said the investigation is continuing; anyone with information is asked to contact Chester County Detective Edward Nolan at 610-344-5660.