BRENTWOOD — A licensed practical nurse has been indicted for allegedly stealing morphine from a patient earlier this year at a Portsmouth nursing home.

Nina Perez, 31, of Berwick, Maine was indicted on charges of possession of a controlled drug and abuse of facility patients following her arrest in August.

A grand jury returned the indictments against Perez on Sept. 7 in Rockingham County Superior Court.

Perez is accused of taking morphine prescribed to a patient at Edgewood Centre in Portsmouth and giving the man a muscle relaxant instead.

Perez was working as an LPN at the nursing home on May 19 when she allegedly took morphine prescribed to a male patient, according to prosecutors.

She then administered the prescription drug Flexeril, a muscle relaxant, to the patient as a substitute for the morphine, prosecutors said.

She is facing 3½ to 7 years in prison if she is convicted on the drug charge.

The abuse of facility patients charge is a misdemeanor.

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