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Monday, October 1, 2007

Therapist Caught In The Act Stealing From Patients

Police in Utah County say they caught a physical therapist - who has a history of drug problems - stealing medication from a client's car while she was inside getting treatment.
Detectives arrested James C. Nackos, 35, on suspicion of burglary, theft and illegal possession of prescription drugs. On Thursday he remained in the Utah County jail without bail.
Nackos is a physical therapist at a Provo clinic. One of Nackos' clients had noticed when she finished her appointments and returned to her car it appeared someone rummaged her purse, said Lt. Rich Ferguson of the Utah County major crimes task force.
The woman's family, armed with a video camera, decided to watch her car while she attended her next appointment, he said. The family members recorded a man who appeared to be Nackos using her keys to enter the car and going through her purse, Ferguson said.
The family reported the burglary to police, and Detective Dan Forster planned a similar sting. On Tuesday, the woman arrived for an appointment again.
Ferguson said the client was inside about 20 minutes when Nackos came outside with her keys and entered the car, taking prescription medication from her purse.
"He's pretty hasty about it," Ferguson said. "He's out of the car pretty quick and we took him down at that time."
It appears Nackos
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would occupy the client by having her operate a therapy machine, then he would take her car keys, he said.
"We're pretty curious if there's other victims," Ferguson said.
Nackos pleaded in abeyance in October 2005 to two felony counts of altering a prescription. The convictions were to be voided after 24 months if Nackos did not violate laws. Failing to meet that term puts Nackos at risk of going to prison for as much as five years on each count, but there was no indication Thursday of whether prosecutors or 4th District Court in Provo were planning to take action.
Nackos has had a license to practice physical therapy since 2002, according to the Utah Division of Professional Licensing. State laws list felony convictions or drug crimes as grounds for discipline against professional license holders. Professional Licensing said it has no record of any enforcement proceedings against Nackos, though it's not clear if Professional Licensing was aware of the convictions.
"It certainly is grounds for investigation," said Scott Ward, physical therapy division chairman at the University of Utah and the president of the American Physical Therapy Association. Ward said he was not familiar with the Nackos case.

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