Lynn woman accused of stealing medication from cancer patient

LYNN – Police charged a Lynn woman with larceny over $250 Saturday after a 50-year-old Lynn woman who has cancer reported the suspect stole her pain medication and replaced it with Ibuprofen, according to an arrest report filed in District Court Monday.Police responded to the alleged victim?s home Friday evening for a well-being check, and the woman reported that she believed her friend, Donna Welch-Gowan, 46, of 3 Meadow Court, had “tampered with” and stolen her medication “to kill her.”The woman told officers she is a stage 2 cancer patient, according to the report, and when she went to Massachusetts General Hospital on Thursday to report that she was suffering from seizures, a doctor informed her “an unusual amount of Ibuprofen was found in her system.”When she checked her medicine tray at home following the hospital visit, she noticed her prescribed pain medication, called Neurotin, had been “substituted for Ibuprofen,” the report said. The pills are the same size, shape and color, according to the report, but have different markings.During interviews with police, the woman recalled waking up in her home recently to find Welch-Gowan, whom she referred to as an old friend in the report, going through a padlocked closet where her medications are kept.She said she keeps the key for the lock around her neck, and believed Welch-Gowan took it as she slept. She reported more than 100 Neurotin pills missing, along with two other medications, the report said.The victim?s 31-year-old son told police he visited his mother on Wednesday and saw Welch-Gowan in the apartment, but she left as soon as he arrived, according to the report.He added he had seen his mother?s medications “scattered on the floor.”Pharmacists estimated the missing Neurotin pills to be worth $609, according to the report.Judge Albert Conlon released Welch-Gowan on personal recognizance during a hearing in District Court Monday. She is due back in court Aug. 2 for a probable cause hearing, according to court documents.Taylor Provost can be reached at [email protected].