Kimball Nurse Sentenced for Stealing Drugs From Patients

MINNEAPOLIS -- A Kimball nurse has been sentenced to two years in a federal prison for stealing pain killing drugs while working at St. Cloud Hospital.

A U.S. District Court judge also ordered 43-year-old Blake Zenner to pay $340,000 in restitution. Zenner pleaded guilty last September.

He admitted accessing lock boxes while working as a registered nurse and used syringes to remove the drug Dilaudid from intravenous bags. In some cases he injected saline into the bags to replace the missing drug.

The crimes took place from November 2010 to March 2011.

Authorities say as a result of Zenner’s actions, 25 hospital patients were infected with bacteria.