News >> Browse Articles >> Scandals
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
indianapsychrn
about 1 year ago
2 comments
Again, why would you go to school work your butt off to get a degree then throw it away on something as unimportant as a laptop. We should be held to a higher standard since we do deal with people at the lowest time of their life and who would steal from a deceased person..
prettyprincessnv
about 1 year ago
6 comments
I just never understand why people go to college to become and nurse and then do crazy things like this to lose their jobs! He should be punished way more, because he must very stupid... why would you waste your career on a laptop?
jingle
about 1 year ago
6 comments
oh? just 30 days...??? how lenient...:D
MsSharon37
about 1 year ago
26 comments
This is a horrible thing to read about especially when it's a person in the medical field which to me one is supposed to have extreme compassion. How could anyone do this to a deceased person or a living person for that matter, it's just very disgraceful behavior and his punishment should give him time to think about not ever doing anything like that ever again.
daroll
about 1 year ago
6 comments
disgraceful---30 days not fitting the crime
drladyg
about 1 year ago
4 comments
what an insult to the profession! and to the criminal.......... 30 days is a joke for what he did, to all of us
anointed001
about 1 year ago
4 comments
scmadm: I would have to totally agree with you! Malenurse09, doesnt seem to understand the severity of the crime that was committed here. You dont steal from a deceased man, you treat the dead as you treat the alive, with respect. We as healthcare providers have a duty to protect our patients and clients from things such as this thing happening. But yet t his huy is stealing from a dead man. The family should me furious, and for those that feel like what he did is not a big deal, think of the deceased as one of your loved ones!
melco75
about 1 year ago
70 comments
I think 30 days in jail is ok........ seeing that he'll have to spend the rest of his life in the REAL world, unprotected, without a license, trying to fend for himself. Unless he has a good family he is really screwed!
hedgehog
about 1 year ago
2 comments
My identity has been stolen twice, so I feel I can say: Who cares if he loses his license? The fact that he did this to begin with will insure that he never gets a job as a nurse again, he's wasted his whole education over a stupid choice, and will have to go thru the embarrassment every time he tries to get another job. I think that's plenty.
BringMeSun
about 1 year ago
10 comments
I kind of agree with malenurse09 that losing his nursing license for 5 years is going to hit him where it hurts a lot faster than putting him in jail for 8 years like some people are suggesting. He is young made a very bad mistake but lets keep it into perspective he needs rehabilitation and help to find out why he made the chouce in the first place
egazer
about 1 year ago
12 comments
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Now he's in jail, and lost his job and will have to go before the State Nursing Board. Tough Break.
bubbabubba
about 1 year ago
16 comments
And all the creep got was a 30 day sentence? Can you imagine what he must have been like with patients who were ALIVE if he did this to a DEAD one? I think they should make him clean bedpans for the 30 days, instead of sitting around watching TV at tax payer's expense.
lyndjohnson
about 1 year ago
6 comments
This has been big news here in VA Beach . It seems there are other issues with this guy--his liscense was never checked out by Sentara before he was hired adn they found some irregularaties. the hospital where he worked dosen't have the best local reputation for providing appropriate patient care. I would rather take my chances at home then go there.
rjlcrnp
about 1 year ago
18 comments
I hope that he lost his liscense and he should spend 8 years and perhaps get out thirty days early. It is people like him that give nurses a bad rep.
vtachrn
about 1 year ago
2 comments
This dope violated more ethical codes than I can think of. 30 days in jail? Oh give me a break. He should and will most likely be drummed out of the nursing profession