School Aide Jailed For Stealing And Replacing Students' Medication

A clinic aide at Clover Hill Elementary School in Chesterfield, Virginia, will spend the next five years behind bars for stealing and replacing students' medication. The school's nurse began to suspect something was amiss last year when she noticed that pill bottles were not in their usual locations. She believed that her aide, 39-year-old Caitlin Poytress, was tampering with the medications.

As the nurse began to look into the matter, she found that the pill count logs had been altered. While the nurse was trying to figure out what was going on, the police received a report from a parent that her child's Adderall had been replaced with Benadryl.

During an investigation, school officials discovered two other cases in which a child's medication had been stolen and replaced. Police arrested Poytress, and she told investigators she had been battling an "opium problem" for five years.

Poytress was convicted of felony child neglect, two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, petty larceny, and possession of a controlled substance. She was sentenced to 18 years in prison, with 13 years suspended.

Photo: Chesterfield Police Department