A nurse anesthetist who diverted fentanyl for his own use was sentenced on April 2, 2025, to three months in federal prison, six months of home confinement, and was fined $5,000. He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. Ian Lindsey, age 42, from Mineral Point, Wisconsin, received the prison term after November 13, 2024, guilty pleas to one count of acquiring a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, deception, and subterfuge, and one count of false statement relating to healthcare matters.
In a plea agreement, and at his sentencing hearing, Lindsey admitted, and the evidence showed that, no later than 2017, he was diverting significant amounts of fentanyl and other drugs from a hospital in Platteville, Wisconsin. The hospital was purchasing fentanyl above monthly limits, yet its supply was still consistently out. Lindsey also illegally accessed patient records and made false statements in patient records at the Platteville hospital. Lindsey was “shaky” and “falling asleep at surgery bedside.” The Platteville hospital fired Lindsey in 2017. Lindsey’s criminal conduct later resumed at a hospital in Dubuque, Iowa. From October 2022 to at least January 25, 2023, Lindsey diverted fentanyl from nearly 50 patients at the Dubuque hospital. Lindsey also again illegally accessed the medical records of six patients and made false statements in the medical records of another, making it appear that he had given that patient fentanyl for her pain when he had not done so.
