Forest City man pleads not guilty to stealing narcotics from Hancock County hospital

BRITT — A Forest City man has pleaded not guilty after being accused of stealing narcotics from a local hospital.

A criminal complaint states 31-year-old Thomas Anderson was a nurse at the Hancock County Hospital in Britt where he allegedly falsified patient records on three different occasions in early September in order to secure narcotic pain medications for himself. The complaint says Anderson ordered fentanyl on two occasions and dilaudid once for patients who were not in need of the medication, keeping them for himself, altering patient records to cover up the crime.

Anderson faces three Class C felony-level charges of a controlled substance violation as well as one count of tampering with records.

Anderson recently filed a plea of not guilty in Hancock County District Court, with his trial date scheduled for February 21. If convicted of all four charges, he would face over 30 years in prison.