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NH man pleads guilty to stealing kids' medication at treatment home

According to prosecutors, Thomas John Ball Poirier, 41, of Tilton stole Ritalin from children at a treatment facility.
Credit: Micha? Chodyra
Photo: Thinkstock

CONCORD, N.H. — A former worker at a residential treatment home in New Hampshire pleaded guilty Monday to stealing medication from children and replacing it with pills he colored with markers.

According to prosecutors, Thomas John Ball Poirier, 41, of Tilton stole Ritalin from children at Spaulding Academy and Family Services in Northfield in 2020. He was arrested in March 2021 and pleaded guilty Monday to first degree assault, second degree assault and obtaining a controlled drug by deceit.

The attorney general’s office said two of the children experienced severe behavioral changes as a reaction to having their prescriptions tampered with.

Poirier will be sentenced Jan. 13.

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