Mason City woman pleading guilty to forgery, giving hospital patient fentanyl

MASON CITY — A Mason City woman charged in separate incidents with forgery and entering a patient’s room at a hospital and giving the patient fentanyl is pleading guilty.

Court documents state that 49-year-old Sharla Murphy went into a patient’s room at MercyOne North Iowa Medical Center on the afternoon of January 4th, where she allegedly handed the patient a receipt with an unknown substance on it. The patient ingested the substance and life-saving measures had to be taken. Nursing staff turned the receipt with residue of the substance over to a Mason City police officer, with the crime lab later confirming that the substance was Fentanyl. The patient identified Murphy as the person who brought her the substance, with Murphy allegedly admitting to visiting the patient and giving her the receipt.

Murphy was charged with a Class C-level controlled substance violation, which if convicted could result in a ten-year prison term. A plea change hearing in this case is scheduled for Tuesday in Cerro Gordo County District Court.

Murphy was charged on March 3rd with a Class D felony charge of forgery after being accused of cashing a computer-generated bogus payroll check at HyVee East made out to a person she did not know as well as possessing a stolen identification card to cash the check at the store. Court documents state that Murphy pleaded guilty to the forgery charge on Friday, with a sentencing hearing not being set at last check.