MASON CITY, Iowa – A North Iowa occupational therapist is facing federal charges for stealing drugs and illegally accessing patient information.

Samantha Jo Rogers of Mason City was charged on October 12 in Cedar Rapids Federal Court with conspiracy to possess a controlled substance, violating federal medical privacy laws, and aiding and abetting.

According to the criminal complaint, Rogers was fired in January 2017 from the IOOF home in Mason City after working there for nearly two years. IOOF officials say she was caught on video taking prescription pills from the purse of another employee. Rogers continued to be employed by Mercy Medical Center – North Iowa when a nursing aide reported pain pills missing from her purse in May 2017.

Rogers was then hired in September 2017 by Northern Iowa Therapy in Waverly. She’s accused of accessing patient records while working there and visiting four patients at their homes in apparent attempts to obtain or steal prescription medications. Court documents state that, in one instance, Rogers is suspected of taking a patient’s unused Percocet and, on another occasion, is suspected of breaking into another patient’s home in Forest City in a search for drugs. The incidents with the patients took place between October 2017 and May 2018.