CALGARY — An emergency room nurse in Calgary who stole painkillers to feed her drug addiction has been spared a criminal record.
Provincial court Judge Marlene Graham agreed Monday to a conditional discharge for Mona Michele Helmer.
Helmer pleaded guilty to stealing 167 Percocet pills at the Peter Lougheed Centre over two weeks in 2008.
Crown prosecutor Rob Bassett told court Helmer, 42, stole the pills while working the emergency unit at the Lougheed by signing out more pills than were prescribed for patients.
Graham said the fact Helmer’s crime didn’t put any patients at risk weighed in her favour.
Graham noted Helmer became addicted to Percocet after breaking her backbone in 1992 and developed chronic pain syndrome.