DA: Man licked stolen medical waste to get high

A Shirley man who is a licensed practical nurse got high by licking pain-relief patches he found in piles of medical waste he stole from nursing facilities and then left in public places, including a Bay Shore schoolyard, Suffolk prosecutors said Thursday.

Erick St. Louis, 33, took the stolen waste to Hemlock Elementary School and Benton Park in Bay Shore, and vacant lots in Mastic Beach and Shirley, where he sifted through it looking for used Fentanyl patches, District Attorney Thomas Spota said before St. Louis' arraignment in Suffolk County Court.

One of the vacant lots, on Elm and Forest roads in Mastic Beach, has a makeshift motocross track used by local youngsters, prosecutors said.

"He was creating dangerous conditions for anyone who uses these places, especially children," Spota said.

Assistant District Attorney Michael McCoy said the nursing homes violated no rules. Nonetheless, Spota said health facilities should take extra precautions to secure medical waste storage areas.

Fentanyl, a narcotic used by cancer patients, is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine, said Maureen McCormack, chief of the district attorney's environmental crimes bureau.

Through his attorney, St. Louis pleaded not guilty to six felony counts of unlawful release of regulated medical waste. If convicted, St. Louis faces a maximum sentence of 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison.

His attorney, Susan Ambro of the Legal Aid Society, said St. Louis used the discarded patches to alleviate pain from a back injury he suffered when he fell off a cliff during a training exercise while serving with the Army. He has since been discharged, she said.

"There wasn't any intent to take and sell drugs on the street," Ambro said in court.

County Court Judge Martin Efman ordered St. Louis held on $20,000 bond or $10,000 cash bail. He is due back in court on Dec. 14.

Prosecutors said he broke into three nursing facilities at least six times between June and December 2009, taking containers of medical waste from outdoor storage areas.

St. Louis had worked briefly in 2007 at Island Nursing and Rehab Center in Holtsville, one of the facilities he targeted, prosecutors said. Island Nursing administrators did not return calls seeking comment.

The other facilities were Port Jefferson Health Care Facility and Medford Multicare Center for Living.

Spota said prosecutors discovered during the investigation that Fentanyl abuse is a growing problem nationwide, though Spota could not cite specific statistics.

"It was kind of an eye-opener for us," Spota said.