DENVER – A former surgical tech convicted of stealing the powerful pain narcotic fentanyl lied to law enforcement by going to visit family in Idaho instead of reporting to prison in Oregon, federal prosecutors allege in court documents filed Monday.
Allen pleaded guilty in June to two charges stemming from him stealing a fentanyl-filled syringe from an operating room at Swedish Medical Center last January and replacing it with one filled with saline.
A federal judge sentenced Rocky Allen to 6 ½ years in prison last month. Allen was told on Nov. 17 to report to a federal prison in Oregon within 15 days.
On the day of his sentencing the court denied Allen’s request to visit his sister and other family in Idaho, but prosecutors say Allen went anyway.
Allen told his probation officer on Nov. 21 that he wanted to surrender to prison early, prosecutors say.
Instead of leaving two days later to report to a federal prison in Sheridan, Oregon, Allen went to Idaho to visit his family.
When his probation officer learned Allen hadn’t reported to prison, he called Allen and prosecutors say Allen admitted he was in Idaho with family.
Allen then “attempted to self-surrender only after speaking to (his probation officer,)” federal court document say.
An online inmate locator shows Allen is currently at a Bureau of Prisons facility in Oregon.
Allen is now being moved back to Colorado to appear before a judge, court documents show.
Court docs: how prosecutors say former surgical tech Rocky Allen went to visit fam instead of reporting to prison. https://t.co/rEJKIOdilh
— Jace Larson (@jacelarson) December 5, 2016
Allen’s actions exposed an estimated 2,400 people to potential HIV and hepatitis infection between Aug. 17, 2015 and Jan. 22, 2016.
The hospital never located any victims who contracted HIV or hepatitis, directly related to Allen.
Allen’s actions while working at Swedish Hospital weren’t the first time he switched syringes to acquire the powerful narcotic. He was fired from four other hospitals because of similar behavior, Denver7 previously reported.
After Allen’s guilty plea, the judge said Allen had numerous opportunities to ask for help and to change his behavior.
He said Allen stole 30 bottles of fentanyl from a hospital in Kandahar, while he was in the Navy, and that authorities cut him a big break.
The judge also said that once Allen received a General Discharge, which was another break, he worked at five hospitals in the U.S. and got breaks at four of them.
Allen apologized in court.
Allen said he was sexually abused by his father, his father’s girlfriend and their friends beginning at age 3.
He said he was able to turn things around when he went to surgical tech school, then relapsed once he was sent to Kandahar.
Allen was convicted of tampering with a consumer product and obtaining a controlled substance by deception.
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