COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va — A nurse is facing dozens of criminal charges after she was accused of repeatedly tampering with drugs during the course of her employment at Patient First in Colonial Heights.
Colonial Heights Commonwealth's Attorney Gray Collins said Teresa Keiter has been charged with 15 felony counts of adulteration of drugs, 15 counts of taking drugs illegally, and one count of possessing a schedule one drug for allegedly diverting painkilling medications at Patient First, where she had worked for seven years.
Investigators said Keiter admitted to taking vials of meperidine and morphine into a bathroom, emptying the contents into a toilet, refilling the vials with saline, gluing the top back onto the vials, and returning them to a supply box.
Collins said Keiter did this to at least 52 total vials between June 2024 and February 2025.
He said the bogus drugs potentially impacted 14 patients.
“I can't imagine what the victims would’ve felt like, who thought they were receiving morphine and didn't get any pain relief," Collins said.
According to allegations stated in a Board of Nursing report, a different nurse at Patient First noticed something was wrong back in January when she observed the glue around the top of a vial. She noted the cap was difficult to remove, but once she got it off, she observed a puncture mark on it.
Collins said the facility then did the "appropriate thing" by contacting federal authorities to report the allegations.
“Both the [Food and Drug Administration] and the [Drug Enforcement Administration] agent said [Patient First was] very cooperative," Collins said.
Keither was later terminated in March.
A Board of Nursing document alleged she reported to investigators that she was in "some sort of manic state" and having panic attacks and that she tampered with the vials "so that she could control something and get away with it."
The board's allegations further stated her patient records suggested Keiter had experienced drug seeking behavior and serious mental health concerns.
In November, according to meeting minutes, the Board of Nursing moved to indefinitely suspend Keiter's nursing license. That action has not yet been finalized as she will have a window to appeal the decision.
In the criminal case, Collins said Keiter made her first court appearance Tuesday where she was appointed a defense attorney and was denied bond.
“This is one of the cases where the public is put at risk by someone's actions. You go into Patient First, you think you're going to get the proper medical care, and then you receive medicine that is not really the medicine you need. So we're here to try to protect the citizens and hold people accountable for their actions," Collins said.
In a statement, Patient First said it fully cooperated with the investigation, contacted the potentially affected patients to ensure no one was harmed, and modified security measures to try and prevent something like this from happening again.
CBS 6 reached out to Keiter's defense attorney for comment but has not heard back.
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