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Nurse Who Stole Dead Man's Credit Card Gets 30 Days
Duane Bourne / The Virginian-Pilot
September 18, 2008
Matthew Wiseman, a registered nurse who pilfered a dead patient’s credit card, was ordered to serve a month in jail on Wednesday.
The 24-year-old man, who pleaded guilty to credit card theft and credit card fraud, used the card of Michael Puopolo in March to buy a laptop computer hours after the 75-year-old man was pronounced dead at Sentara Bayside Hospital. On Wednesday, Circuit Judge A. Joseph Canada Jr. found Wiseman guilty of the two felonies and sentenced him to eight years in prison with all but 30 days suspended.
Wiseman was working in the emergency room when Puopolo was transported to the hospital. Puopolo was found slumped over in his car in the parking lot of a BJ’s Wholesale Club store, and was later pronounced dead of a heart attack.
Six hours after Puopolo died, Wiseman was captured on surveillance footage at a Best Buy store wearing his hospital scrubs and using the stolen Visa card to buy a $1,800 laptop computer, according to prosecutors.
Hospital workers identified him from the video and he was fired for violating Sentara’s ethics policy.
© YellowBrix 2008
johnson01
about 1 year ago
2 comments
it sickens me too know that you have people taking care of you or family members that you cant even trust cant trust some people whether yur dead or alive 30days please 30 years is more like it. johnson01
LuciMarie
about 1 year ago
82 comments
You have got to be kidding me! Obviously he has no ethics. He deserves a much serious punishment -- losing his nursing license!
ladybug1110
about 1 year ago
2 comments
thats just plain sick and stupid. what was this guy thinking?
raspberry_cec
about 1 year ago
2 comments
"He" only got 30 days. I don't think being a nurse has anything to do with it. people who are crimials have all kinds of jobs. I don't think nursing instructors should have to include a course on being an decent human being in the nursing curriculum.
sap
about 1 year ago
2404 comments
I'm getting really tired of hearing these stories about nurses doing these awful things! Maybe when you are in nursing school they need to give a course on VALUES and MORALS! These people are making me sick.
heyarnold47
about 1 year ago
18 comments
She only got 30 days?? Why so she can get out and turn around and do it again?? What the heck is 30 days?? All thats going to do is show any other "weirdo" nurses they can do the same thing because their are no consequences to pay for actions here! This horrible!
Ella77777
about 1 year ago
6 comments
NOW, this one right here is too much!!! He is not a nurse, he is a thugg! and should be being called an incarcerated convicT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Vanessa_Unicorn
about 1 year ago
30 comments
Se deberia abochornar por tal afrenta. Le deberian revocar su licensia. El compromiso de las enfermeras es de servir y a este que le paso?? No le pagan lo suficiente??
joyrider
about 1 year ago
52 comments
She should have gotten more than 30 days! Did they revoke her license?
mashell4
about 1 year ago
1078 comments
I dont believe that 30 days is enough, this is a case of greed. its looks bad on nurses in general. He's at work, supposed to be helping people and he is stealing.
nurz4life
about 1 year ago
102 comments
Unfortunately, there are people out there who have no scruples and are wearing scrubs--no pun intended.
Breniaha
about 1 year ago
66 comments
Are you kidding me!!!! Surely he had to know better!!
Done
about 1 year ago
362 comments
Unprofessional, criminal, sad...
jeannie1956
about 1 year ago
20 comments
10/02/2008 Thursday 2055PM
Straight to the point this individual is a shame to the HealthCare Profession.; there is no exc
use for this unprofessional behavior.
Ms Eugenia Michelle Brown,LPN/LVN Houston,Tx
Account Removed
about 1 year ago
30 days is not enough, and he should also have his license revoked. People trust and expect nurses to take care of them, even though this one was deceased, I'm sure the family expected the same. Now patients have to worry about what will happen to their personal belongings or credit cards, etc.? This is not what being a nurse is all about!