A Florida nurse walked into an ICU room she had no business entering and drew fentanyl from a dying patient's IV with a syringe.
She came back the next night for more.
Now Leslie Ann Pope is in handcuffs – and American families need to know what the hospital never told them.
Family Member Caught Her Twice
She walked into the ICU room and a family member stood there and watched Pope, 54, of Jupiter, use a syringe to pull fluid from the patient's fentanyl infusion, slip it into her pocket, and leave.
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Pope returned the next evening.
This time the family member – who had medical field experience and recognized exactly what they were seeing – stepped in and stopped her.
Detectives reviewed hospital security footage and confirmed it: Pope tampering with protective caps on the IV equipment during that second visit.
A 15-page arrest affidavit documented the full investigation, which included DEA coordination alongside the police work.
“The following evening, Pope allegedly returned to the patient’s room and again approached the IV equipment,” a police report read. “The family member intervened, and detectives later reviewed video footage showing Pope manipulating protective caps on the equipment.”
Port St. Lucie Police arrested Pope on October 8.
Cleveland Clinic confirmed she no longer works for the hospital system.
What Pope Told Police
Pope's explanation: an IV alarm required her to be there.
That story did not survive the security footage – or the family member who was standing in the room when it happened.
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Police spokesperson Brittany McNally told reporters the department would not speculate on what Pope intended to do with the stolen fentanyl, whether personal use or resale.
Pope now faces grand theft of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, and fraudulently obtaining a controlled substance – all felonies.
This Is Happening Across the Country
What happened in Port St. Lucie is not a Florida problem.
In Colorado, ICU nurse Katie Muhs admitted to pulling fentanyl from patients' IV bags over four months in 2019 – replacing the stolen drug with saline, then staging a fake disposal witnessed by a coworker to cover the theft.
In New Hampshire, two nurses were federally indicted in December 2023 for stealing fentanyl directly from patients in ICU and operating rooms – one at Concord Hospital, one at Catholic Medical Center.
In Oregon, former nurse Dani Schofield faced 44 counts of second-degree assault after an investigation found she had been removing fentanyl from ICU patients and substituting unsterile tap water – a practice tied to a surge in patient infections and possible deaths.
The DEA investigated roughly 3,600 cases of alleged drug theft at healthcare facilities over a five-year period, and its own officials acknowledged that only a fraction of hospital drug thefts are ever discovered.
Read that again.
Three thousand six hundred cases – and that's just what got caught.
Most patients in the ICU cannot speak for themselves, cannot monitor what is happening to their IV lines, and have no way to know that someone who was never assigned to their care has walked in with a syringe.
The fentanyl flowing into a critically ill patient's IV is not extra.
It is the precise dose a physician calculated to manage that specific patient's pain.
When someone draws it out and pockets it, the patient gets less.
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They feel more.
And they cannot tell anyone.
The real hero in Port St. Lucie was a family member who refused to look away.
The lesson for every family with a loved one in an ICU: watch everything, question everything, and trust your instincts.
The hospital didn't catch this.
Your family has to.
Sources:
- Amy Furr, "Police: Florida Nurse Accused of Stealing Fentanyl from Critically Ill Patient's IV Infusion," Breitbart, October 15, 2026.
- Port St. Lucie Police Department, Facebook Post, October 8, 2026.
- Fox 13 News, "Florida Nurse Accused of Stealing Fentanyl from ICU Patient's IV," October 12, 2026.
- U.S. Department of Justice, "Two Former Nurses Indicted in Connection to the Diversion of Dangerous Narcotics by Medical Professionals," December 11, 2023.
- DEA Press Release, "Former Nurse Pleads Guilty in Connection with Diverting Fentanyl from ICU Patient," October 8, 2024.
- Becker's Hospital Review, "Nurse Charged in Oregon Hospital Drug Diversion Case," 2023.
