CEDAR RAPIDS – An Iowa nurse addicted to fentanyl got probation for stealing the drug from vials and replacing the dangerous substance with saline.
Cedar Rapids surgery center nurse Sabrina Thalblum, age 52, from Cedar Rapids, received five years of probation after a July 21, 2021, guilty plea to one count of acquiring a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, deception, and subterfuge, and one count of adulteration and misbranding with intent to defraud and mislead.
At her guilty plea and sentencing hearings, Thalblum admitted that, from about August 2018 to August 2019, she was an unlawful user of, and addicted to, fentanyl, a highly addictive opioid and controlled substance. Thalblum abused her position as a registered nurse to gain access to fentanyl at her employer, a local surgery center, and divert it to her own use. As a part of her scheme, Thalblum tampered with the vials of fentanyl. Thalblum removed the caps from vials of fentanyl at the outpatient surgery center and then carefully punctured the vials with needles and drew out the fentanyl. She then refilled the vials with saline to make the vials appear as if they still contained fentanyl. Thalblum also carefully reglued the caps of the vials to make it appear as if the vials were undisturbed, when, in truth, these consumer products no longer contained their declared values of fentanyl. In this way, the Thalblum made it appear as if the vials remained new, unopened, and filled with the controlled substance on their respective labels, that is, fentanyl, when, in truth, the Thalblum had diverted some or all of the fentanyl in the vials to herself.
Thalblum was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Thalblum was sentenced to five years of probation and fined $10,000. She also must forfeit her nursing license. There is no parole in the federal system.
She knew what she was doing. Don’t blame the drug. Blame her for using it. If she hadn’t used it, she wouldn’t have become addicted to it. Put the blame where it belong.
Sucks for her. Opiates are a hard drug to escape from. In reality there is no return voyage. Like the tasting of forbidden fruits it leaves an impression on your very soul. England years ago controlled the world opium trade through a sinister company called ‘The East India Company’ in the days of sailing ships. First big epidemic of addiction followed. Been with the western culture ever since then. She was living the dream. Until she wasn’t. 5 years ‘probation’ is like skating on thin ice. Check in to treatment, become an addiction specialist, move on is the cure. The slacker family and the money they doled out to their investors over oxycontin need to be dealt with. They got her hooked to begin with. No accountability. Flunkies. ‘Oh look…what’s that over there’….its another mutation. Poor Bastards. Both David Rockefeller and David Rothschild passed on from the covid not to long ago. Both were 58. Both were the caliber of flunkies like the slacker family. Here’s to her speedy recovery!