Woman who stole girl’s pain medicine gets 2 years

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- A woman will spend two years in prison after stealing a prescription painkiller from a sick 6-year-old girl in her care.

U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon on Monday sentenced Cynthia S. Kuykendall, 55, of Charlottesville to 24 months in prison and fined her $2,000. Kuykendall had pleaded guilty to intentionally obtaining fentanyl by deception.

Authorities said Kuykendall cared for a child with several medical conditions, including pseudo-obstruction syndrome, as an employee of Albemarle County's schools. She started caring for the child at the girl's home in September 2002, where she administered fentanyl through an intravenous line.

The defendant had been a licensed practical nurse, but her licensure had lapsed. Authorities said she told others that she was a registered nurse.

Authorities said Kuykendall removed some of the fentanyl from the girl's drug-administering device for her own use, replacing it with water.

The girl's mother testified in court that doctors briefly suspected her, the mother, of taking the fentanyl, as her daughter was still complaining of severe pain despite being prescribed a dose meant for an adult.

-- Media General News Service