A former nurse from Needham, Ariana Foley, has been sentenced in federal court for diverting benzodiazepine medication from a Boston-area hospital. The sentencing took place on December 3, 2025, before U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris.
Foley, age 37, received a sentence of three years of probation and was ordered to complete 100 hours of community service. In November 2025, she pleaded guilty to one count of unlawfully obtaining controlled substances by fraud, deception, and subterfuge.
According to the case details, Foley began working as a nurse at the hospital in December 2018. On July 16, 2022, during an overnight shift in the intensive care unit with an intubated and immobile patient under her care, she checked out a bag of Versed—a controlled substance classified as a benzodiazepine—and three bags of fentanyl. One bag of fentanyl was discarded after it began leaking. None of these medications were recorded in the patient’s medical records.
Foley was discovered slumped over against the wall in the patient’s room after an emergency alarm sounded. Hospital administrators questioned her and found three syringes in her pocket.
The announcement regarding Foley’s sentencing was made by United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Fernando McMillan, Special Agent in Charge at the Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations; and Dr. Robert Goldstein, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mackenzie Queenin and Meghan Cleary from the Health Care Fraud Unit prosecuted the case.
