CAMARILLO : Woman Accused of Hospital Drug Theft

A Thousand Oaks woman has been arrested on suspicion of posing as an employee at a Camarillo hospital in order to steal the painkiller Demerol, authorities said Tuesday.

Laure Goebel, 35, of Thousand Oaks was booked into the Ventura County Jail on suspicion of burglary and obtaining drugs by deceit, authorities said. She has been released on bail, a jail spokesman said.

“She admits to having a drug problem,” Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Keith Lazz said. “She’s depressed over family and financial problems. She just felt she needed the drugs that night.”

Goebel admitted to taking two syringes loaded with Demerol--which gives a high similar to that of heroin--from Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo on the evening of June 16, Lazz said.

Goebel wore a white lab coat with a badge that identified her as an employee of Staff Builders Temporary Personnel, a Ventura-based firm that frequently supplies nursing help to the hospital. The woman, who told authorities she was unemployed, once worked for the firm, Lazz said.

Officials at Staff Builders could not be reached for comment.

Goebel allegedly stole two syringes from nurses who believed she was working at the hospital. She returned to the hospital a second time to ask for more Demerol, authorities said. But nurses had discovered the theft and recognized her, authorities said.

One nurse chased her to the parking lot, where he wrote down part of her license number.

Sheriff’s Detective Miguel Colon checked with Staff Builders to find employees who matched the woman’s description, Lazz said. He checked the cars of those employees with the Department of Motor Vehicles and found that Goebel’s license plate matched the one of the woman, Lazz said.