Police: $200k in medicine destroyed after power cut to eye clinic at St. Elizabeth campus
A Park Hills man is accused of cutting power to the Cincinnati Eye Institute at the St. Elizabeth Healthcare campus in Edgewood, leading to hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of medication being destroyed, according to Kenton County District Court filings.
David Redding, 34, is charged with a single count of first-degree criminal mischief, a felony, court records show.
On the night of Aug. 31, Redding was receiving treatment at St. Elizabeth Edgewood Hospital for a mental health evaluation, Edgewood police said in a criminal complaint, adding he was not on a 72-hour hold, the maximum amount of time someone can typically be hospitalized involuntarily under Kentucky law.
Just after midnight on Sept. 1, St. Elizabeth's security staff received an alarm on a generator at the surgery center building on South Loop Road, police said, adding the alarm was tripped because the building's electrical generator was switched off.
Security camera footage showed Redding in the same general area as the generator switch just five minutes before it was turned off, though he was not recorded turning the switch off, the complaint states. The surgery center's security video also showed Redding walking around the building as he tried to gain entry through several doors locked by key codes, police said.
With the generator turned off, the Cincinnati Eye Institute's second-floor suite inside the surgery center lost electricity, the complaint says. The ophthalmologist's office held a number of injectable prescription drugs, which needed to be refrigerated at temperatures between three and eight degrees Celsius, police said.
Since it took roughly seven hours for the office to regain power, around 135 dose units of medication, totaling $246,616, were destroyed, according to the complaint.
Police said attempts to interview Redding have been unsuccessful.
"The charges against Mr. Redding are only allegations at this point," Daniel Schubert, Redding's lawyer, said in a statement to The Enquirer. "The prosecution has the burden to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and unless they do, he remains innocent. I look forward to zealously defending Mr. Redding, protecting his constitutional rights, and preserving his innocence."
On Monday, Redding's case was referred to a grand jury, which will consider whether to indict him.
He was arraigned March 21 and posted bond the same day, according to court records, which indicate he's been ordered to home incarceration and cannot go within 500 feet of the St. Elizabeth Edgewood Hospital and its surrounding facilities.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: NKY eye clinic loses $200k in medicine after power to office is cut
