Samantha Jo Rogers, age 33, a licensed occupational therapist who improperly accessed the private health and residence information of at least 1,900 patients, and then entered or burglarized thirteen homes across North Central Iowa in repeated attempts to steal prescription opioids from vulnerable and elderly persons, was sentenced September 9, 2019, to more than one year in federal prison. In a plea agreement and at sentencing, it was established that Rogers was an Iowa-licensed occupational therapist who worked for a North Iowa hospital and various therapy companies. From at least July 2017 through June 2018, Rogers illegally accessed the private health and residence information of no less than 1,900 patients at the hospital. Rogers also similarly accessed such information from one of the therapy companies no less than 1,572 times. Rogers then used this information to locate and travel to some of the residences and attempted to obtain the patients’ prescription pain medication on the pretense that she was a public health worker. On other occasions, Rogers used a crow bar to break down the patients’ doors and commit burglaries to obtain the narcotics. In early 2018, for example, Rogers burglarized the same Forest City home twice in attempts to steal an elderly man’s prescription pain killers.
