Maria Anne Mihalik sentenced for stealing morphine from patients' IVs

Maria Ann Mihalik was sentenced to three years probation for stealing patients' drugs for personal use.

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Maria Anne Mihalik,  the 31-year-old Superior Wis., woman caught stealing Dilaudid from patients' IV bags, was sentenced to three years probation on Wednesday. She was arrested in May last year after faking her way around Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, siphoning out patients' drugs to feed her own habit.

She was a licensed nurse -- only not at that hospital. Also, they don't usually teach nurses that patients should share.

Mihalik was really licensed in Wisconsin, and worked at Saint Mary's Hospital in Duluth. Her trick didn't last long though, as other nurses soon noticed someone that they didn't recognize moving from room to room. When arrested Mihalik's pockets contained three syringes filled with Dilaudin, a powerful opiate.

Mihalik was arrested for drug possession, second-degree burglary and theft. She was also quickly banned by the Minnesota Nurses Board from practicing in the state. Facing as much as four years in prison, Mihalik pleaded guilty to a single count of obtaining a controlled substance in March.

Instead of prison, she'll spend six months in a halfway house, and do 150 hours of community service.

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