Chester County nurse arrested for stealing morphine

WEST CHESTER, Pa. (WPVI) -- A Chester County nurse has been arrested for stealing morphine and other drugs from the nursing home where she worked.

District Attorney Tom Hogan says 36-year-old Carolyn Howett stole the drugs from the Pocopson Nursing Home in West Chester where she worked for 15 years.

After the investigation began and Howett was interviewed by police, she abruptly quit.

Investigators discovered the drugs, believed to be stolen by Howett, in her home during a separate investigation into her live-in boyfriend Arthur Dillard.

Police issued a search warrant of Dillard's home in the 1900 block of Saginaw Drive in Coatesville in early June.

"That bottle of morphine was listed by [Howett] as being destroyed by her when [her] patient died," Hogan said. "So we could trace that particular vial of morphine back to her and, boom, it's showing up at her house during a drug search warrant."

Dillard was arrested following the search.

Police say this is still an ongoing investigation and it's unclear how many people could be involved.

"We're still putting together whether or not the morphine was being sold out of that house," Hogan said.

Hogan says Pocopson Nursing Home has cooperated fully.

Howett started working at another nursing home in the past two weeks, but the DA won't say which one. There is an investigation now there, too.

Howett's bail is set at $50,000.