Former vet clinic employee facing charges for stealing animal meds

A man who worked at the Antigo Veterinary Clinic is accused of stealing drugs that were intended for use by animals. The 27 year old is currently living in Nobelsville Indiana. He was suspended after the investigation began and was eventually fired. In an attempt to hide what he was doing, he watered down the remaining drugs. He is being charged with possession of narcotic drugs and possession of a controlled substance, mistreatment of animals and theft. He confessed to the clinic that he took morphine, hydromorphine and hydrocodone. Questions began being raised when a co-worker had seen him take drugs from the clinic's drug supply box. He later said that he was stealing the drugs for a little over a month and that he had stole 1 milliliter and 1.5 milliliters of hydromorphine at a time and then replaced it with liquid on a daily basis. There may be reason to believe that the thefts began as early as as November of 2012 when the man was to take expired meds to the Antigo Police Department's drug disposal drop-off box, but those meds were not received by police. Questions remain if the diluted drugs had an impact on animal surgeries that had been performed. The man said his drug problems began when he was in college and had received Vicodin while playing football.