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Caregiver convicted after pilfering pain medication By DANI DODGE A nursing home caregiver who stole OxyContin - a popular and addictive pain medication - from her elderly charge was convicted Monday of first-degree criminal mistreatment. "I'm sorry," said Gwen Eileen Tingleaf, 51, of 24 Samara Drive, Shady Cove. "It was a stupid act." Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Ray White sentenced Tingleaf to 10 days in jail, 40 hours of community service and three years of probation. The last time Tingleaf was in criminal court was more than 20 years ago when she had a theft conviction. Medford police Lt. Mike Moran said that in December, Tingleaf was working at a care home on Picadilly Circle in Medford. She took the pills out of a bottle of OxyContin and replaced them with a decongestant, said Deputy District Attorney Matthew McCauley. OxyContin contains oxycodone, a strong narcotic similar to morphine. "What she told the police was that she admitted taking them and selling some of them and then keeping some of them," McCauley said. Tingleaf's attorney Michael Kellington said Tingleaf did it to pay for groceries. "My client has been caregiving for over a decade," Kellington said. "She had to pay for groceries so they had food. The reason for the theft was to get money for food." The elderly woman who had the OxyContin prescription used the drug only when she was in extreme pain and didn't take the decongestant by mistake, the attorneys said. Originally, Tingleaf was charged with two counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment, illegal possession of OxyContin, and second-degree theft. When she pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree criminal mistreatment, all the other charges were dismissed. McCauley asked for less than the maximum sentence in Tingleaf's case because "there was no actual harm to the victim." "The person she was caring for didn't really want charges," he said. "We felt (Tingleaf) needed a taste of jail, that with the conviction should be enough for this type of person." "If we had seen some kind of injury to the victim, we would have put her in jail for a long time, or prison." Reach reporter Dani Dodge at 776-4471, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.