News From Niceville
Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2022 9:44 pm
https://www.wjhg.com/2022/12/02/okaloos ... -students/Okaloosa Co. school health tech charged with stealing medication from students
OKALOOSA COUNTY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - A health technician at Destin Middle School has been charged with stealing prescription medication from students.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office charged Makayla Crandall, 27, of Niceville with three counts of grand theft of a controlled substance, five counts of child neglect, and one count of failure to maintain narcotics records.
Officials said Crandall was hired in July 2022. In September, a student who goes to Crandall daily for medication started noticing a difference in the color and imprint on her pills. The child mentioned it to her mother, and her mother says she noticed a difference in her child’s behavior.
After it was reported, the OCSO school resource officer and school employees conducted an audit October 4th. The audit revealed at least 110 missing amphetamine/ dexmethylphenidate pills from a least five students.
One bottle had an Aleve pill and another had several pills identified as aspirin. One bottle found with aspirin in it was for a student that should not be given aspirin, according to the parent.
During the investigation, officials said they found two other parents who became concerned about behavioral issues in their children around the same September, October time frame.
Another parent told authorities she dropped off a bottle of Adderall for her student on September 29th but had to take the child to the emergency room on October 4th because of erratic, unusual behavior.
Investigators say Crandall was the only one with a key to the medicine cabinet. She claimed to have a prescription for Adderall but law enforcement officials were unable to find it in any databases.
Crandall was also unable to explain how student medications were missing or switched out.
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