AUGUSTA — A Wales nurse pleaded guilty Thursday at the Capital Judicial Center to a charge of intentionally endangering the welfare of a dependent person who was a patient at a skilled nursing facility in Waterville and to falsifying private records.

However, Mary A. Reynolds, 46, can withdraw her plea to the more serious charge in a year if she complies with the terms of a deferred disposition agreement.

The complaint says the offenses were committed Aug. 4, 2014, at Lakewood Continuing Care Center in Waterville. The patient was identified only by the initials H.C.

“Essentially, the CNA on the shift before her was administering the medications for (Reynolds’) shift, so the risk there is that they were doubling up in the first shift, or that they were being deprived in the second shift,” said the prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General William Savage. “The patients weren’t getting the medication when they were supposed to get it.”

According to the deferment agreement, if Reynolds is successful at meeting conditions of the agreement, which includes performing 40 hours of community service, she will be fined $400 on the misdemeanor conviction of falsifying private records. If she is unsuccessful, she will be sentenced on the felony charge of intentionally endangering the welfare of a dependent person. That charge carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.

Reynolds, a licensed practical nurse, no longer is working as a nurse, according to her attorney, Walter McKee.

Conditions of Reynolds’ deferment also include complying with any consent agreement she makes with the Maine State Board of Nursing.

McKee said no hearing is set in the case before the nursing board, but a consent agreement is expected to be finalized in the next few weeks.

“Mary recognizes that mistakes were made here,” McKee said via email. “She should have immediately reported the other employee as having given medications when the other employee was not supposed to do so. She didn’t and accepts responsibility for that.”

Savage said more than one patient was involved. “We charged one count to get the case started, and she accepted responsibility before grand jury, so we kept it to one count,” he said. The case was investigated by the Health Care Crimes Unit of the Office of the Maine Attorney General.

Another person also is charged in connection with the same incident, Savage said, but that case remains unresolved.

According to the Maine State Board of Nursing, Reynolds had been a licensed practical nurse since November 1991. Her most recent license is listed as having expired on Nov. 11, 2015, and the status is listed as “failed to renew.”

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams

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