A nurse who worked at the Suffolk County House of Corrections in Boston for over 10 years has been accused of a drug diversion scheme involving nearly 100 forged signatures to steal thousands of pills.
Mary Forte, 69, of Boston was charged with two counts of obtaining a drug by fraud, two counts of larceny of a drug and one count of forgery of a document, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
Forte was arraigned at Roxbury Division of Boston Municipal Court on Wednesday and released on personal recognizance by Judge Dana Pierce. She is due in court on Dec. 2 for appointment of counsel.
In December 2023, the Department of Public Health’s Drug Control Program received a report that a House of Correction employee — later identified as Forte, who was an employee at the House of Correction since 2012 — was improperly discarding narcotics and forged other nurses’ signatures in the Narcotic Waste Book for at least two years.
Hospital protocol requires for two nurses to be present for any destruction of medication and its documentation. The medicine must be placed into an appropriate container and in view of a camera, and the footage is routinely reviewed by the House of Correction.
On Dec. 10, 2023, another employee noticed Forte discarded a large amount of Suboxone and Methadone without a second nurse present, the district attorney’s office said. Forte also forged another nurse’s signature who was on vacation at the time.
Investigators would later learn Forte had been forging that nurse’s signature for months without her knowledge or consent, the office said.
Forte was also seen taking Suboxone out of its packaging in an office with no cameras, making it impossible for investigators know what she was actually disposing of when she later went into a monitored room.
Her body blocked the view of the drugs and investigators watched her carry Methadone bottles into the back office. However, she never came back with them or poured them out, the district attorney’s office said.
In total, Forte is reported to have diverted 1,992 ml of Methadone, 1,798 of 8mg pills of Suboxone and forged 89 signatures.
“Drug controls and protocols in jails and prisons are in place for good reasons, including the fact that many inmates are incarcerated for drug distribution and trafficking charges,” said District Attorney Kevin Hayden.
“The security aspects of those protocols are ultimately what provided the evidence to move forward with these charges,” Hayden said.
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