Henrico nurse pleads guilty to swapping fentanyl with saline mix, giving bogus drugs to patients
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A Henrico nurse has pled guilty to federal charges that were part of the U.S. Department of Justice's recent "Health Care Fraud Takedown," according to court records. Last month, prosecutors filed three counts of criminal tampering with consumer products against Cristina Schasse.
Court records showed Schasse was employed at HCA's Chippenham and Johnston-Willis Medical Center as a certified registered nurse anesthetist, and the alleged offenses dated back to June through August of 2023. A spokesperson for the hospitals' parent company HCA said Schasse was "employed by a contractor at our hospitals, provided care from December 2022 through August 2023, when her contract was terminated."
On three occasions, prosecutors said Schasse tampered with a medication dispensing machine by drawing syringes of fentanyl and a sedative called Versed, which is a controlled substance, and put them in her pockets.
She then allegedly prepared syringes of a non-controlled sedative mixed with saline and then marked those syringes with pre-printed labels misidentifying them as either fentanyl or Versed and put them back in the machine. These medication swaps were caught on surveillance video.
State Corporation Commission filings list Schasse as the registered agent of the Lucid Med Spa in Henrico, which was formed in February 2024. The spa's social media listed Schasse as an owner and licensed aesthetic injector.
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