Niceville Resident Charged with Stealing Meds From Students.

Niceville Resident, School Nurse Arrested, Charged with Stealing Meds From Students.

Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Deputies charged 27-year-old Makayla Lacey Crandall with Felony Theft after arresting her in relation to missing Adderall at Destin Middle School.

OCSO Deputies arrested the Niceville resident on December first at Destin Middle School, where she works as a school nurse.

The Okaloosa County Jail records Ms. Crandall as Awaiting a Hearing and currently an inmate in their Crestview facility as of December 4th at 7:34 PM. Crandall has three separate bonds for her charges – a $3,000 bond for Grand Theft of Controlled Substances, a $5,000 bond for the Neglect of Child(ren) Without Great Bodily Harm (a total of five separate counts) and a $1,000 bond for the failure to maintain narcotic records. All seven counts are felonies.

Crandall has not been arrested for any other offenses in Okaloosa County.

Here's What the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office Says Happened:

According to a probable cause affidavit filed by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office – Crandall stole Adderall from at least three students. Crandall started work as a school nurse on July 25th at Destin Middle School. The affidavit says beginning in September of 2022, three students reported that their medicine was either switched for blood thinners or another drug. Parents also noted that they had to bring extra medicine for their children.

Students began to have headaches, regress in their school performance, and other issues. One student, who was allegedly affected by the crimes, almost passed out because they had been given Aleve. According to the narrative provided by the Sheriff’s Office – the child could have been subjected to a brain bleed by the blood thinners.

After at least three complaints were made to authorities, a school resource officer broke open the medicine cabinet in the school nurse’s office after a concerned parent called in and said that their child told them they were taking a different medication at school. The deputy audited the medicine cabinet and found that at least 110 pills belonging to five different students were missing from the cabinet. Some of the pills in bottles intended to hold students medication had Aleve or Aspirin in them.

No other staff or faculty members have keys to the medicine cabinet. When asked where she kept the spare key to the medicine cabinet – deputies say that she told them she did not have it or know where it could be found.

Crandall was read her Miranda Rights and asked about the situation. Crandall denied taking the pills, being forced to take them, or someone else taking them. She claimed that she had a prescription for Adderall – which deputies say they looked up in their system. She doesn’t have a prescription for any of the substances stolen from the medicine cabinet.

Okaloosa County School District Responds to Incident

Superintendent Marcus Chambers, through a release from the Okaloosa County School District on December 4th said the following about the incident:

“As Superintendent, I am appalled by the allegations,” said Marcus Chambers. “We will work with authorities to ensure this individual, if guilty, is punished to the fullest extent of the law. We fully supported the efforts by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office throughout the investigation and have mandated that Aveanna (the contracted healthcare provider for the district) put in place additional checks and balances with regard to dispensing student medicine in our school clinics. Parents should have absolute confidence that their child’s visit to the school clinic is handled professionally and accurately. Aveanna has been a good healthcare partner over a number of years and acted swiftly in this matter to address the District’s concerns.”