UPDATE (March 13, 2018): Charges have been withdrawn against Kathleen Knecht after the district attorney's office determined there not enough evidence to convict her.
(Original story)
HONESDALE, Pa. -- Honesdale police accuse three people of stealing drugs from a Commonwealth Health Ambulance back in November, and now, they face charges.
Officers were called to the Texas 4 Fire Station on November 25 where it was reported that a bag of pills was taken from that ambulance assigned to Kathleen Knecht.
Police say Knecht was in on the theft and arranged for the other two suspects to take the medications.
“That's a shame,” said John Herringer from Tafton. “You depend on these people. It's a shame to have somebody like that take advantage of the system and then use it for their own means.”
Police say they recovered the drugs from Heather Widzbell's vehicle that was found parked at Central Park in the borough.
Widzbell and a third person, Jason Mizwinski, were placed under arrest.
Along with theft charges, all three are also charged with reckless endangerment of another person since those medications were meant for people in an emergency.
“That's irresponsible,” said Kathy Dodge of Honesdale. “That's awful.”
Some say they're tired of hearing about people abusing their positions.
“Well, there's nurses that get arrested and doctors that get arrested that are on drugs, too. There's even bad cops. There's bad people all over the place,” said Gail Meyers of Honesdale. “It's so bad with all these drugs today. It's just so bad.”
Investigators say Knecht would tip off Widzbell as to where the ambulance would be, where the drugs would be, and when to take them.
At Knecht's home in Lake Ariel, the man answering the door had no comment.
A spokesperson for Commonwealth Health would only say that they are fully cooperating with law enforcement officials.