A Lakeview man accused of breaking into a medication pump in an OB room at Baxter Regional Medical Center and with damaging other pieces of medical equipment pled no contest to the charges against him and was put on probation for six years during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
Thirty-six-year-old Timothy Strain was also ordered to pay $6,700 in restitution to BRMC.
The incident resulting in Strain’s arrest began Jan. 17 when Mountain Home police were called to Baxter Regional to investigate a complaint Strain had damaged medical equipment. According to the hospital security staff, Strain had been in his girlfriend’s room after she had given birth to the couple’s child and had broken into an epidural pump.
When contact was made with Strain, he said he had accidentally knocked the pump over and had been attempting to reassemble it. Later in the day, hospital staff noticed another damaged piece of equipment and a sharps container that had been broken into. The container is used to dispose of items such as hypodermic needles.
They also found needles wrapped in one towel and vials of prescription medication in another one. The medications had allegedly been taken from a lockbox.
Police learned Strain, who had a suspended driver’s license, had left the hospital in another person’s van. The van owner said Strain had driven the vehicle to another friend’s residence. When officers arrived at the home, they saw the van in the driveway and reported seeing Strain trying to exit a side door being watched by one of the officers. Strain was taken into custody.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the van owner gave permission for the vehicle to be searched, and parts from a medication pump were found.
Strain was charged with breaking or entering and criminal mischief.
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