White River Junction VA Employee Pleads Guilty to Stealing Psych Patients' Medications, Reports Say
By VA Headlines staff · Published November 10, 2026 · Sources dated June 29 and July 6, 2026 (news reports); docket last updated October 21, 2026
According to Valley News and Vermont Business Magazine, a White River Junction VA nurse, Kimberly A. Cotto, pleaded guilty in June 2026 to diverting and tampering with psychiatric patients' medications. The federal docket shows no sentence as of its last update on Oct. 21, 2026.
INFO CARD
Agency / Court: U.S. District Court, District of Vermont
Facility: White River Junction VA Medical Center
Location: White River Junction, Vermont (163 Veterans Drive, per VA.gov)
Employee / role: Kimberly A. Cotto, registered nurse (as identified in news reports)
Source type: Published news reports; federal court docket
Document type: News reports; public CourtListener / RECAP docket (underlying PDFs not in the free archive)
Case no.: United States v. Cotto, 2:26-cr-00053 (D. Vt.)
Dates: Reports June 29 and July 6, 2026; docket filed May 28, 2026; last known filing Oct. 21, 2026.
Status / outcome: News reports say she pleaded guilty June 26, 2026. Sentencing had been set for Oct. 23. The docket shows a later motion to continue, and no sentence appears as of Oct. 21.
A registered nurse at the White River Junction VA Medical Center has pleaded guilty in federal court to diverting psychiatric patients' medications and tampering with the drugs, according to June and July 2026 news reports. Vermont Business Magazine, publishing a June 29 account by Mike Donoghue of Vermont News First, identified the nurse as Kimberly A. Cotto. Valley News, in a July 6 report by Alex Ebrahimi, also identified her as Kimberly Cotto.
The public CourtListener docket in United States v. Cotto, 2:26-cr-00053 (D. Vt.), shows a felony information and plea agreement filed May 28, 2026, and an arraignment and plea-agreement hearing on June 26. The free RECAP record does not include the plea-agreement PDF or charge language; it names the defendant only as Cotto. Conduct details below come from the news reports, as attributed. No sentence appears on the docket as of its last known filing on Oct. 21, 2026.
What the news reports say
Valley News reported that a nurse at White River Junction VA pleaded guilty to stealing drugs prescribed to patients and consuming them herself, and that she was charged in May with two counts. Vermont Business Magazine reported that Cotto pleaded guilty on June 26. Valley News reported that from March through November 2025 she diverted controlled substances prescribed to her patients for her own use. Vermont Business Magazine reported she took amphetamine/dextroamphetamine capsules, removed the regulated ingredients, and returned empty or nearly empty capsules to circulation. Both reports described patient-safety effects on an inpatient psychiatric ward.
Vermont Business Magazine reported that Cotto also acknowledged removing methylphenidate tablets, replacing them with hydroxyzine, and administering them to victims. Valley News said hydroxyzine was used to conceal her consumption of diverted drugs. Both reports said the agreement calls for her to forfeit her New Hampshire nursing license. The reports said the two counts carry a potential sentence of up to 14 years; the docket's later filings do not show a sentence.
The court docket and sentencing date
The docket includes a June 26 waiver of indictment and release conditions, forfeiture orders in July and October 2026, and sentencing memoranda in mid-October. News reports said sentencing was scheduled for Oct. 23. The docket later shows a motion to continue filed Oct. 14, an order on Oct. 20, and a scheduling order and notice of hearing on Oct. 21. No judgment or sentence appears as of that last known filing.
What's next
Whether sentencing has since been held is not shown on the Oct. 21 snapshot and should not be reported until an official judgment, updated docket entry, or government press release says so.
Related: Orlando clinic CEO and VA employee sentenced in kickback scheme; Former VA employee sentenced for $41,666 PPP loan fraud. More: all VA Headlines reports. How we report: Methodology & Corrections.
SOURCES
United States v. Cotto, 2:26-cr-00053 (D. Vt.), public CourtListener / RECAP docket. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73405516/united-states-v-cotto/
Alex Ebrahimi, Valley News, July 6, 2026: https://vnews.com/2026/07/06/nurse-pleads-guilty-drug-theft/
Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First / Vermont Business Magazine, June 29, 2026: https://vermontbiz.com/news/2026/june/29/nurse-va-hospital-steals-meds-psych-patients-tampers-drugs
The same report published by Vermont Daily Chronicle June 29, 2026: https://vermontdailychronicle.com/nurse-at-va-hospital-steals-meds-from-psych-patients-tampers-with-drugs/
Plea and medication details come from the news reports, as attributed. Docket entries come from the public CourtListener record. Plea-agreement PDFs are not in the free RECAP archive. Corrections: https://www.vaheadlines.com/methodology#corrections