Nurse Was Under Influence of Pills When She Drove, Police Say

A nurse at a Lower Saucon Township nursing and rehabilitation center has been charged with DUI-Controlled Substances, police said in a news release Wednesday.

According to police, Felicia Knecht, 31, of the 200 block of Five Springs Road, Stroudsburg, was trying to drive away from the Weston Rehabilitation & Nursing Center at 1898 Leithsville Road on the morning of Sept. 3 when officers arrived after being summoned by staff who believed her to be under the influence of drugs.

Police said the staff members reported seeing Knecht falling asleep while at work during her night shift, "being very uncoordinated [trying to unlock a door for over five minutes] and having slow, slurred speech."

"Staff members also reported that they had 30 Oxycodone pills go missing in the few weeks prior...and also reported that five Oxycodone pills [went] missing sometime over [the] night shift in question," authorities added.

Police said a blood test Knecht submitted to showed her to have "considerable amounts of Oxycodone, Oxymorphone and nearly three times the therapeutic limit of Alprazolam [Xanax] in her system at the time she was in full control of her vehicle in a public parking lot."