CRESTON, Iowa — A Creston nurse has been charged for stealing several patient’s medications and committing insurance fraud.

On Wednesday Brian Averill Gutmann was arrested by the Union County Sheriff’s Office and charged with six counts of unlawfully obtaining or attempting to obtain prescription drugs, two counts of fraudulent submission in support of a claim, and one count of tampering with records. The nine reported incidents happened between December 2023 and March 2024 while he was employed Greater Regional Health, according to court documents.

During three of the instances Gutmann administered a portion of the narcotics Dilaudid and Fentanyl to a patient in his care and kept the rest of the medication for himself, a criminal complaint states. Gutmann also scheduled narcotics under patients’ names and never administered them, keeping the entire dosage, the complaint states.

Additionally, the complaint states Gutmann recorded administering medications to patients not in his care and that the patients were then billed for the medications, including the narcotics never administered.

According to court documents, Gutmann falsely documented administering medications to patients in their medical records to conceal that medications were not given or partially given to patients. A State of Iowa Insurance Fraud Bureau report alleges that the records were billed to Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield for payments. The falsified records were submitted in an attempt to defraud the insurer.

Gutmann was held at Union County Jail on a bail of $72,000. He has since been released. Gutmann is scheduled to appear in court on September 24.