Police: Hospital employee caught stealing prescription drugs

DOVER, Del. – In Dover, employees at a hospital are still processing how one of their co-workers could have stolen drugs from their workplace for over a year.

“This goes to show that there are certain people out there at every business that aren’t doing the right thing all the time,” explains M/Cpl. Mark Hoffman of the Dover Police Dept.

An employee at Bayhealth Kent General Hospital in Dover is facing theft and drug charges after investigators learned he was stealing prescription drugs from the pharmacy over the past year.

“Our drug unit detectives investigated all the coinciding paperwork, the evidence that came along with that and determined that the employee that was arrested was in fact stealing prescription drugs over the course of about a year,” says Hoffman.

That man is 48-year-old Paul Davis of Felton. And while the Dover Police Department cannot say what drugs were stolen or how much, they can say it was large amount.

“Internal thefts in themselves are are fairly frequent throughout the city, theft from your employer is, but of this magnitude, given what was taken from the hospital, it’s highly unusual.”

Police add with the opioid crisis the nation and Delmarva are seeing, thefts like this are just a reminder on why it’s so important to keep tabs on medicine.

“In regards to drugs in pharmacy type situations, obviously just be extra cautious, maintain proper inventory checks and continue to be observant of each other and follow proper protocols on administering prescriptions and such to make sure that these drugs are getting into the wrong hands,” adds Hoffman.

We reached out to Bayheath Kent General Hospital about this case and they say they are unable to comment at this time. Paul Davis was arrested Tuesday afternoon and released on a $72,000 unsecured bond.