A nurse in Florida has been sentenced to over two years in federal prison for swapping patients’ fentanyl pain medication with saline solution. Emmanuel Valentin, 40, of Miami, pleaded guilty to tampering with consumer products on Dec. 13, 2024, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Florida. He was then sentenced to 26 months in prison on March 17, as per court records reviewed by PEOPLE.
The incident took place between July 10, 2023, and Aug. 18, 2023, while Valentin was employed as a registered nurse at a Miami hospital’s cardiac catheterization lab, the release explains. Valentin had used a syringe to remove medical-grade fentanyl and midazolam from patients’ vials for personal use, subsequently replacing them with saline solution, which was intended for patients’ pain relief during medical procedures like cardiac catheterization and stent placement.
Valentin also took empty vials from the biohazard waste disposal bin, filled them with saline, and utilized them to replace the stolen vials, prosecutors reported. This action put patients at risk of Hepatitis C and other blood-borne infections. Valentin was terminated by the hospital, which alerted patients of potential contamination, offering free blood testing, with no acute infections discovered.
In a separate state prosecution on May 15, 2024, Valentin also confessed to stealing fentanyl from another hospital in the Miami area in March 2023, according to prosecutors.
