Diversion for Criminal Charges

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Just curious...how many people here have been charged with a felony for diverting at work and recieved diversion for these charges. My public defender is trying to get this by showing im in an extensive rehab program aka monitoring. I just wandered how likely it is or if anyone else has gotten this. I know it doesnt mean i will but I am curious.

Rdsrn said:

I got caught and fired Sept 2018. Immediately entered my states program for nurses. I'm in Indiana. I heard from an investigator regarding possible charges at the end of October 2018 and got charges filed December 2018. I would think that you would have already heard something if they were going to file charges. My place of employment turned me into the attorney generals office who did the investigation. Fingers crossed no charges for you!! It's much easier without the criminal aspect to deal with. Hard enough as it is. I graduated the program in 2021 and had my license taken off probation last year. Thank GOD!! It's hard but we get through it if we stay clean. 

What was the criminal side of your story? Did you get them dropped? Did you have to do anything special? Did you spend anytime in jail...ughhh when will this be over for me ...

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JB C said:

1.Start recovery which is a partial hospitalization program PHP which is 6 weeks and follow that with 6 weeks of IOP. Those 2 above are recovery.

2. You are already enrolled in HPRP which is your nursing state monitoring program and that is good.

3. Begin going to meetings. Do 3 hours of meetings per week and your choice Alcoholics Anonymous or NA or Celebrate Recovery. You can do a combination of the above or just do AA or just do CR or NA or whatever. Just do 3 meetings weekly and start those now and keep a record.

4. When you are done with the 6 week PHP, get a job or enroll in college. It doesn't matter what degree. Just begin taking college classes and you can withdrawal after you finish the criminal side of the equation, or if no college get a job somewhere.

A. Rehab means a 6 week PHP program then a 6 week IOP program (done via zoom) and a 1 hour per week Aftercare program done via zoom which is 52 weeks. That's rehab

B. The HPRP program is your nursing drug testing program where you check in daily and go pee if selected. It will require you to go to Rehab (see above) and do 3 recovery meetings per week, so you might as well get started.

C. Recovery meetings are in the community. Google AA, NA, CR.

D. Now the criminal side of the equation. The way you get your charges dropped is by your lawyer getting you into something called pretrial intervention or pretrial diversion. This is NOT related to ANY of the above (A through C). It is a 3 to 12 month program where you drug test at the court weekly and the program mandates you to go to Rehab and either work a job or be in college. After you complete this program, your charges get dropped and the criminal side is OVER. No punishment or probation. It's over and all that leaves is the nursing side of the equation.

TWO BIRDS with ONE Stone. Your BON/HPRP will mandate you to go to rehab and so will the pre trial intervention/Pretrial trial diversion program side. So again, go onto rehab now and you knock out the requirment for this for both the nursing side and the criminal side. Your HPRP and also, the pretrial diversion program will mandate you do 3 recovery meetings per week. Better get started now as you knock out the recovery meetings which meets both program requirements.

The criminal side of the equation/pretrial intervention/Pretrial diversion program lasts from 3 months to 12 months duration and then it's OVER. But......it is NOT automatic that you will get accepted into the pretrial intervention/criminal side of the equation program. If you don't get in, you will go to trial and the risk for prison is high. How do you get into the pretrial intervention program which leads to all charges dropped and no punishment and no criminal record after you complete it? You START rehab NOW. You enroll in the HPRP (which you have-good job) and you attend the 3 meetings weekly starting now. 

The District Attorneys/Prosecutors run the pretrial intervention/diversion programs and they decide who gets in. Your lawyer is making an argument for you to get in. What does he have to convince the prosecutor to allow you in? How does the Prosecutor make his or her decision? They want to see that you are redeemable (which you are). They want to see that you are attending meetings for recovery 3 times per week. They want to see that you went to rehab on your own long before you were made or forced to go by a court. They want to see that you are already being drug tested and enrolled in the HPRP program. This seals the deal for them. They allow you to enter the program which is a Blessing trust me. And again, you are going to be forced to go to rehab anyway and if you don't the risk for prison is very high, and from the nursing side HPRP, they are going to mandate you go to rehab in order to keep your license and be in compliance with the HPRP so again, it's better to go to rehab now. Tell your lawyer where you are going and that is HUGE, a huge positive for you with the prosecutor.

Here's your warning and I've told this to about 400 nurses in my time. Roughly 75 if them do it and 25 percent don't.  Not going to rehab early will end badly for you not just from a recovery standpoint, but from a criminal standpoint. Some nurses will wait and wait and wait and in 6 months, the criminal side forces them to go and their criminal issues are drawn out for 2-2 years Instead of being over with in as soon as 3 or 4 months if they would have just gone to rehab. Additionally, the BON doesn't let them return to work until they have completed a PHP and IOP program. For the ones that go to rehab early on, 100 percent of them are admitted into the pretrial intervention/diversion program and their criminal charges are dropped. 

 

If I may add. The same day I got fired I was enrolled in my states approved rehab facility program. They didn't have me to inpatient at all because my level of usage was so low and I didn't need a detox. I fought with them that I needed to do the 30 days inpatient rehab but they told me no LOL. Anyways, my BON accepted me doing 10 weeks of IOP, which I guess kind of correlates to the 12 weeks total. I am now in level 1 and have to do one zoom meeting a week with a group of people for a year on top on 1 AA/NA/smart recovery meeting a week. So each state may differ slightly, but I do think getting help asap helps your case. The investigator with the BON kept thanking me for being forth coming. It's been 4 months now and no criminal charges yet, hoping to avoid them☹️

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Nursrcy00901 said:

If I may add. The same day I got fired I was enrolled in my states approved rehab facility program. They didn't have me to inpatient at all because my level of usage was so low and I didn't need a detox. I fought with them that I needed to do the 30 days inpatient rehab but they told me no LOL. Anyways, my BON accepted me doing 10 weeks of IOP, which I guess kind of correlates to the 12 weeks total. I am now in level 1 and have to do one zoom meeting a week with a group of people for a year on top on 1 AA/NA/smart recovery meeting a week. So each state may differ slightly, but I do think getting help asap helps your case. The investigator with the BON kept thanking me for being forth coming. It's been 4 months now and no criminal charges yet, hoping to avoid them☹️

I have heard different things from this group... some people say it doesn't matter the amount, it matters the facts that it was diversion. Ugh the more I read about this the more I'm driving myself crazy. 

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Nurselee22 said:

I have heard different things from this group... some people say it doesn't matter the amount, it matters the facts that it was diversion. Ugh the more I read about this the more I'm driving myself crazy. 

My case manager for the nursing program side of things was the one who determined what I had to do. She had me do a hair follicle test and I wasn't having withdrawals so she didn't make me go to any sort of rehab. I think most of the time they do require at least IOP though. If you need to do inpatient detox they'll determine that. 

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Nurselee22 said:

I have heard different things from this group... some people say it doesn't matter the amount, it matters the facts that it was diversion. Ugh the more I read about this the more I'm driving myself crazy. 

My lawyer told me I wouldn't go to jail and that I will be able to work, so I'm trying not to get freaked out over what others are saying. I probably shouldn't have read anything about criminal charges because I do have a lawyer and I've done everything quickly and efficiently. I have done IOP, and I've had at least 15 negative UAs so far as well as getting credit for the smart recovery meetings I've attended, as well as one on one therapy. The rehab facility really has been a great asset to show my recovery progress. They sent me the letter they sent the BON and praised me about never missing a meeting, always being committed and making progress in my recovery and relapse treatment plan. They suggested I return to work without access to narcotics for 6 months which I think is standard and I'm not upset about it. I hope you don't go too crazy, over the last four months the anxiety of the unknown has lessened dramatically. But this post has opened a new can of worms I didn't realize there was🥺

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Nursrcy00901 said:

My lawyer told me I wouldn't go to jail and that I will be able to work, so I'm trying not to get freaked out over what others are saying. I probably shouldn't have read anything about criminal charges because I do have a lawyer and I've done everything quickly and efficiently. I have done IOP, and I've had at least 15 negative UAs so far as well as getting credit for the smart recovery meetings I've attended, as well as one on one therapy. The rehab facility really has been a great asset to show my recovery progress. They sent me the letter they sent the BON and praised me about never missing a meeting, always being committed and making progress in my recovery and relapse treatment plan. They suggested I return to work without access to narcotics for 6 months which I think is standard and I'm not upset about it. I hope you don't go too crazy, over the last four months the anxiety of the unknown has lessened dramatically. But this post has opened a new can of worms I didn't realize there was🥺

I'm sure you'll be okay. Obviously, listen to your lawyer. Even if they did at this point they will drop it. I'm sure they want to see some sort of rehab and since you have done it for 4 months you'll be fine. I, on the other hand, haven't even started the process. So I'm freaking out but at this point I'm just throwing my hands up and leaving it to the highest power. I will do everything quick and efficiently too to get out of this mess and never again will I put myself in this much trouble. Best of luck. 🤞 

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So I finally finished my interview with my investigator it took three weeks. My investigation was uncharted opioid x2, suspecting diversion, but I have nothing positive. They never tested me and I quit before they even had a chance to do so. I did contact HPRP so now I want to get out of there. Ugh, I should have just waited to see what my investigation was. I feel like either way I will get some sort of monitoring but this is BS. 

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Nurselee22 said:

So I finally finished my interview with my investigator it took three weeks. My investigation was uncharted opioid x2, suspecting diversion, but I have nothing positive. They never tested me and I quit before they even had a chance to do so. I did contact HPRP so now I want to get out of there. Ugh, I should have just waited to see what my investigation was. I feel like either way I will get some sort of monitoring but this is BS. 

Contact a lawyer.  Sometimes who evaluates you is important. If they recommend a monitoring agreement you can request an independent evaluation.  A lawyer knows the reasonable evaluators. 

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@Healer555 

I do have a lawyer... I feel like he is not very helpful but he kinda is. I'm a  very emotional person and he is very matter-of-fact, but he has been helping me a lot behind the scene. I still hope I don't get any charges from the hospital. I didn't admit to anything, but if the hospital goes after me for two uncharted opioids and suspected diversion, not even proven diversion, then this life is ***. Now I'll probably have to join NA/AA and admit I'm an addict because of two not charted opioids ... for 3-5 years. unfreakingbelievable. 

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Nurselee22 said:

@Healer555 

I do have a lawyer... I feel like he is not very helpful but he kinda is. I'm a  very emotional person and he is very matter-of-fact, but he has been helping me a lot behind the scene. I still hope I don't get any charges from the hospital. I didn't admit to anything, but if the hospital goes after me for two uncharted opioids and suspected diversion, not even proven diversion, then this life is ***. Now I'll probably have to join NA/AA and admit I'm an addict because of two not charted opioids ... for 3-5 years. unfreakingbelievable. 

Maybe a different lawyer? The name of the evaluator is what you need to escape a monitoring agreement and if you get a monitoringagreement, do the independentevaluation.  It can at least get you less time.  You don't have to say you're an addict.  I don't.  Of all the things I am required to do, the meetings are the easiest, all online and I don't speak. 

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Here's a quick update: When I first received the notification that I was under investigation, I completely spiraled and experienced emotions I didn't even know I was capable of feeling. I started frantically reaching out to facilities for IOPs, PHPs, and trying to do whatever I could to clear my name. I changed insurance so I could afford these programs. I even called my psychiatrist to ask for referrals to PHP and IOP programs (since those facilities required referrals). Later on, I panicked even more because my evaluator was going to interview my psychiatrist, and I had essentially forced him to refer me to a "mental health" facility. I take anxiety meds, and forced my physician to send me to these programs. The chaos and confusion I created while trying to fix everything was unbelievable. That only added to my anxiety, and I was absolutely convinced I was going to end up with an MA. 

Well, I just completed my evaluation for the nursing recovery program, and I've been deemed ineligible. My case is officially closed, and I don't have to enter any kind of monitoring agreement.

For anyone going through something similar, I encourage you to take a step back and try to take it one day at a time. I know it's incredibly hard to do, but if this experience has taught me anything, it's to avoid trying to control things that are beyond your control. Focus on one stressor at a time. 

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Any update on this situation? Looking for outcomes to possibly prepare myself. I'm going to to the intervention program for SUD but want to know what will happen on the legal end for diversion. 

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