A 50-year-old travel nurse remained in jail late Thursday under a $150,000 bond, charged in connection with the theft of myriad pain killers and anti-anxiety drugs.

The Clinton Police Department’s Neighborhood Improvement Team took Renee Kennedy Hunter, of 3473 Cabin Museum Road, Turkey, into custody late Wednesday, charging her with felony possession of morphine, felony possession of hydromorphone, two counts of felony possession lorazepam, and two counts felony possession of diazepam.

Both morphine and hydromorphone are used to treat pain, while lorazepam is used for anxiety and seizures and diazepam is used for anxiety.

According to Clinton Police Capt. Donald Edwards, the department’s Neighborhood Improvement Team and the SBI Drug Diversion Unit initiated an investigation after receiving a complaint from Sampson County Regional Medical Center.

“As soon as it was reported to the detectives, they started their investigation shortly after,” Edwards said when contacted following the release of the arrest information.

The investigation, Edwards said, showed that Hunter, who was a contract travel nurse for Sampson Regional Medical Center, was taking drugs from the facility.

According to Amber Cava, vice president of marketing for SRMC, a contract travel nurse is not a direct employee of the hospital. Contract travel nurses take temporary assignments and travel to different hospitals to perform their duties for a few weeks at the time. During nursing shortages or nursing recruitment times, Cava said it is common to hire the travel nurses.

Jail records show Hunter is expected to make her first appearance in Sampson County District Court on Nov. 15. The investigation is ongoing.

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Multiple felonies leveled; charges stem from theft of hospital drugs

By Sherry Matthews

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