KC Reporter

An Osage Beach nurse has admitted to illegally obtaining fentanyl from a hospital for personal use. Charles Welch Jr., 65, pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation. He waived his right to a grand jury and entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Roseann A. Ketchmark.

Welch, who worked as a certified registered nurse anesthetist at Lake Ozark Anesthesia, primarily provided anesthesia services at Lake Regional Hospital in Osage Beach. His responsibilities included preparing medications for medical procedures.

By pleading guilty, Welch acknowledged that he stole fentanyl from automated dispensing cabinets in the hospital's operating rooms between July 1 and August 21, 2023. He admitted to fraudulently obtaining a vial of fentanyl intended for medical use by generating a label for it and affixing it to a syringe filled with saline, thereby diverting the drug for personal use.

On August 16, 2023, during routine restocking of an automated dispensing cabinet, a pharmacy technician found a vial of midazolam and a syringe labeled "hydromorphone" in a drawer meant for temporary medication storage. The technician informed the hospital's director of pharmacy about the discovery.

The director reviewed surveillance footage and saw Welch pocketing a vial of fentanyl and placing its label on a saline-filled syringe. Footage also showed Welch removing hydromorphone and labeling another saline-filled syringe similarly.

Further review of security footage revealed additional instances where Welch engaged in similar conduct over two weeks. Welch confessed to diverting either fentanyl or hydromorphone almost daily until confronted in August 2023. He admitted to taking the drugs home in his backpack for self-administration.

Welch also confessed to pulling more controlled substances than needed for procedures and falsifying patient charts to reconcile discrepancies between documented dosages and actual administration.

Under federal law, Welch faces up to four years in prison without parole. The sentence will be determined by the court based on advisory guidelines and other factors after a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office is completed.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Bradley Cooper is prosecuting this case following investigations by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Food and Drug Administration's Office of Criminal Investigations.