A Marshalltown woman has been sentenced to six months in federal prison for diverting controlled substances and making false statements in medical records. Amanda Nicole Manatt, 37, was employed as a registered nurse at Unity Point Marshalltown Hospital, where she diverted drugs such as fentanyl, hydromorphone, and morphine by obtaining them under patients’ names and documenting them as administered before taking them for her own use.
After her employment ended at Unity Point Marshalltown Hospital in December 2023, Manatt began working at Mary Greely Medical Center’s emergency room in January 2024. There, she continued the same conduct with hydromorphone until her employment ended in April 2024.
Court records indicate that some patients experienced pain because they did not receive their prescribed medications. In other instances, Manatt took more medication than what was needed by the patients. Her actions led to health care benefit programs being billed for drugs that were not actually given to patients.
Manatt will serve a three-year term of supervised release after completing her prison sentence. She was also ordered to pay $5,258.20 in restitution, a $5,500 fine, and a $300 special assessment. There is no parole in the federal system.
United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa announced the sentencing. The Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU), Tama County Sheriff’s Office, and Iowa Insurance Fraud Bureau investigated the case.
