Former Iowa nurse sentenced to 3 years for stealing narcotics from patients, bank fraud

A former Iowa nurse, who stole pain medication, burglarized multiple residences, possessed a firearm as a felon and committed bank fraud, was sentenced Thursday to more than three years in federal prison.

Sarah Ann Haptonstall, 47, of Onawa, pleaded guilty in February to one count each of acquiring and attempting to acquire a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, deception, or subterfuge; possession of a firearm by a felon; and bank fraud.

According to the plea agreement and evidence at sentencing, Haptonstall admitted she burglarized an Onawa couple’s home on multiple occasions to steal narcotics in March 2023. Haptonstall, as a former nurse, knew one of the residents had constant nerve pain because she had delivered narcotics to their home in 2021.

When law enforcement officers arrested Haptonstall on March 10, 2023, after she broke into that same couple’s home for the final time, she had a 9 mm Luger pistol in her truck, according to evidence. Haptonstall had a previous conviction and was abusing drugs at the time, which made it illegal for her to have guns.

Haptonstall had purchased two 9 mm Luger pistols in February 2020, after falsely stating that she was not an unlawful user of a controlled substance.

The burglaries were just one part of a larger drug diversion scheme Haptonstall perpetrated in western Iowa, according to court documents. In February and March 2023, Haptonstall was entering multiple apartments in Onawa and stealing the occupants’ pain medications.

Between April and October 2022, while working as a licensed nurse, she stole hydrocodone pills from four elderly residents of an Onawa nursing home and a Sergeant Bluff nursing home, according to court documents. One of the victims was over 90 years old.

Prosecutors said she would remove the narcotics from pill cards and replace them with Tylenol.

Haptonstall also admitted to committing bank fraud against a small family-owned business in Onawa, according to the plea agreement. Haptonstall was the business’ bookkeeper and embezzled over $8,000. She created fraudulent checks payable to herself from the business’ account.

Haptonstall was first licensed as a nurse in 2006 and it was renewed at least five times up to 2021. She ultimately surrendered her nursing license.

She also has an extensive criminal history of theft convictions, according to court documents. Between 1997 and 2013, a state court dismissed more than 30 additional theft charges against Haptonstall after she agreed to pay restitution in those cases.

In February 2023, while she was committing bank fraud and about a month before burglarizing residences in Onawa, Haptonstall received a 10-year suspended sentence in state court for felony drug diversion.

U.S. District Judge Leonard Strand sentenced Haptonstall on Thursday to 42 months in federal prison. He also ordered her to pay over $8,000 in restitution to her former employer and to repay $5,000 in court-appointed attorney fees.

She also must serve three years of supervised release.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Vavricek and investigated by the Iowa Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General.

The FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Monona County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the investigation.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com