A third former employee of the John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans Hospital in Little Rock pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring to steal and distribute prescription opioids, authorities said.
Nikita Neal, 43, of Little Rock, a former student trainee at the hospital, faced eight counts of diverting controlled substances from the VA for street distribution, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
Ex-pharmacy technicians Alisha Pagan, 34, of Mablevale and Satishkumar "Steve" Patel, 45, of North Little Rock pleaded guilty to the same charge in August and September, respectively, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette previously reported.
Patel ordered oxycodone, hydrocodone, Viagra, Cialis and promethazine syrup with codeine and later transferred the drugs to Pagan, who delivered them to Neal and others, the release states. Neal then reportedly passed on the drugs to a "street-level distributor."
All three will be sentenced at a later date, the attorney's office said.
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
