Security guards caught a former Progress West Healthcare Center employee stealing drugs and syringes from a locked biohazard container on a surgery floor Thursday, O’Fallon Police said.

The woman, Jamie M. Pohl, 27, of the first block of Lamplighter Lane in O’Fallon, was fired from Progress West in January 2011, and was given a trespassing warning by the hospital.

Pohl was charged Friday with stealing a controlled substance and illegally possessing a controlled substance.

O’Fallon Police said Pohl ran when confronted by security guards and discarded a plastic bag with many vials as she ran away. The vials contained fentanyl and hydromorphone.

Pohl told police she is addicted to hydromorphone and other pain medications, and confessed to stealing pain medication from the hospital about 10 times since being fired, according to a police report.

Bond was set at $30,000.

For more crime information on O'Fallon Patch, see the following articles:

• O'Fallon Woman Faces Drug Charges For Selling Heroin to Father
• Man Sells Fake Heroin to Cop, Gets Arrested Anyway
• Task Force Arrests Man for Heroin Dealing, Possessing Meds