SPRINGFIELD — A former Baystate Franklin Medical Center nurse who admitted to stealing painkillers from work for his own use will spend at least a week in jail after a federal judge decided to take more time deciding on a sentence.
Judge Mark Mastroianni on Thursday continued a sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in Springfield for Daniel Herlocker, 41, of Brattleboro, Vt., until next week to give himself more time to consider his penalty for diverting painkillers from automatic dispensing machines at the Greenfield hospital in the fall of 2014.
A plea deal hammered out in early January between Herlocker’s attorney, Thomas Merrigan, and federal prosecutors recommended probation for three years, rehab and other penalties in lieu of the prison time he faced.
Mastroianni, however, said he had decided to consider “some form of incarceration” to send a message of deterrence to others in the medical field, and was not prepared to make a decision yet. He continued the hearing until April 7 and ordered Herlocker held.
Mastroianni expressed particular concern about the possibility that patients were harmed by Herlocker’s actions, which involved replacing the drugs with saline and resealing the containers with super glue.
Herlocker’s actions, he said, were a direct result of his need to find ways to fuel his opioid addiction.
Herlocker was repentant in court, noting how much his addiction had affected his judgment, and that he realizes the damage that his actions could have caused and regrets them deeply.
“Not a moment goes by where I don’t shamefully, shamefully regret what I did,” Herlocker said during a final opportunity to address the court. “I never said I hope to be an addict one day, and I just needed another time to explain how very, very sorry I am. I hear your concern, and your passion and I’m truly sorry for what I’ve done.”
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