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A school health technician at Destin Middle School was charged December 1st with stealing prescription medication from several students and in some instances, replacing their medications with aspirin or Aleve.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office has charged 27-year old Makayla Crandall of Niceville with three counts of grand theft of a controlled substance, five counts of child neglect, and one count of failure to maintain narcotics records.
Crandall was hired in July 2022. In late September, a child who visits Crandall daily for medication administration started noticing a difference in the color and imprint of her pills and mentioned it to her mother. Her mother in turn says she had observed distinct differences in her child’s behavior.
After it was reported, the OCSO School Resource Officer and school employees forced entry into the cabinet and conducted an audit October 4th. The audit revealed at least 110 missing amphetamine/dexmethylphenidate pills from at least five students. One bottle contained an ALEVE pill and another had seven pills later identified as aspirin.
The investigation revealed that around the same September/October timeframe, two other parents say they had become concerned after noticing a resurfacing of behavioral issues with their children. During the audit, one of those student’s medication bottles was found to contain aspirin, which the parent says the student is not to be administered.
The mother of a third victim says she dropped off a bottle of Adderall for her daughter September 29th but had to take her to the emergency room October 4th due to her erratic, unusual behavior.
Investigators say Crandall had sole possession of the key to the medicine cabinet. She claimed to have a valid prescription for Adderall but no presciption could be found in law enforcement databases. Crandall was also unable to explain how student medications were missing or had been switched out.
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