A nurse at the Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is charged with taking fentanyl patches intended for a pair of elderly dementia patients.

Butler Township police said Jessica Marie Kamerer, 36, of Butler Township admitted she consumed the opioid patches by chewing them.

Police charged Kamerer on Monday with 15 criminal counts, among them three felonies for fraudulent acquisition of a controlled substance.

Attorney Stephen Misko declined comment on the charges, saying only “she's addressing any and all drug and alcohol issues that may have been a causal effect in the allegations.”

Investigators said Sunnyview's nursing director, Heidi Coyle, notified police Feb. 10 of the suspected theft by an employee. She advised police the defendant had taken three patches between Feb. 6 and 8.

Those patches, police said, were prescribed for two patients, ages 85 and 90, housed in the facility's secure dementia unit.

Kamerer apparently came under suspicion while still at work, and Coyle questioned her Feb. 10. The defendant allegedly acknowledged taking the patches.

Police later interviewed Kamerer, who admitted the theft and told them “she was under stress because her husband has a medical issue,” according to charging documents.

According to charging documents, Kamerer admitted to police she went into one of the patients' rooms on Feb. 6, supposedly to change the patient's patch. Instead, police said, she took the fentanyl patch out of the medication cart and pocketed it.

“She stated that she then placed a piece of cloth tape over the old fentanyl patch that was already on (the patient's) back and wrote the date (Feb. 6) on the tape,” documents further report.

Police said the defendant also told investigators she took two more patches in a similar manner Feb. 8 while in each of the patients' rooms.

“Kamerer stated that she was sorry and made a terrible decision,” documents said. “(She) states she consumed the (three) patches that she took by chewing and swallowing them.”

In addition to the felonies, Kamerer is charged by summons with three misdemeanor counts each of theft, receiving stolen property, endangering the welfare of a care-dependent person and possessing a controlled substance.

She is to receive those charges by summons, an employee at District Judge Kevin O'Donnell's office said Tuesday.

Police said Kamerer is suspended from Sunnyview pending the outcome of the investigation.