Feds charge Bend OSP crime lab analyst with stealing pills

After months of investigation and case reviews, federal prosecutors have charged an Oregon State Police Crime Lab analyst with stealing pills from evidence at facilities in Bend and Pendleton over a period of more than 18 months.

The charging document, called an “information,” filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Portland charges Nika Larsen with two counts of “obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud and deception.”

One count involves her time in Umatilla County, from December 2013 to November 2014, and the other in Bend between November 2014 and Aug. 27, 2015.

In both cases, Larsen is accused of stealing pills from evidence items submitted by police agencies to the OSP Crime Lab for analysis and testing.

The listed drugs include morphine, hydrocodone, methadone, oxycodone, tramadol and hydromorphone.

Larsen, who began working as a forensic scientist at the Bend lab in 2012, was placed on paid administrative leave last year when the allegations came to light. She previously worked at the Pendleton lab.

More than 1,000 criminal cases have been under review by Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel due to Larsen’s involvement.