NURSE MUST ENTER REHAB WOMAN STOLE MORPHINE FROM HOSPITAL.

Byline: Amy Raisin Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - A nurse who admitted to stealing Demerol and morphine from her hospital employer to support her drug addiction was sentenced to a two-year drug program Thursday in Newhall Superior Court.

Margaret Seemayer, fired by Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of possession of syringes and drug paraphernalia before receiving a stern warning from the judge.

``I have my doubts about approving this,'' Judge Floyd Baxter said in court. ``If you test positive (on a court-mandated drug test), I will send you to jail for a long, long time - longer than I'd send somebody else because I'm putting myself on the line for you.''

The 25-year-old Valencia resident was arrested Feb. 27 at her apartment after an argument with her live-in boyfriend drew deputies to the complex.

According to the sheriff's report, the boyfriend told deputies he and Seemayer were arguing about her two-year addiction to drugs. He then took deputies to the couple's closet and showed them a shoe box filled with syringes and 33 empty vials of morphine and Demerol, both painkillers.

The sheriff's report stated that ``(Seemayer) said that she had stolen them from Henry Mayo Hospital ... (and) that she had a bad drug habit and that she would steal the morphine and inject it into her left arm once or twice a week.''

Detective John Howard of the Santa Clarita sheriff's station said Seemayer was initially arrested on suspicion of embezzlement, but the hospital was unable to trace the vials in the shoe box to its own inventory.

Seemayer said she stole the vials using the hospital check-out system designed to keep track of every vial of pain medication and other controlled substances, Howard said.

Based on the investigation, however, Howard has his own beliefs about how the suspect stole the drugs.

``Either she was taking the medication that was prescribed by doctors and not administering it to the patients, or she was administering some of it and keeping what was left over,'' Howard said.

According to Deputy District Attorney Anya Artan, the hospital terminated Seemayer for failure to properly document the receipt and disposal of medication.

Under the terms of the deferred entry of judgment sentence, Seemayer must participate in drug rehabilitation classes, submit to random drug tests and pay $100 in restitution. She is scheduled to return to court next March for a progress report hearing.

Amy Raisin, [phone]

amy.raisin(at)dailynews.com