Former Lee Health employee arrested for stealing $150,000 worth of equipment to sell online
Ricardo Rodrigues, 56, of Lehigh Acres, faces two counts of grand theft and one count of trafficking stolen property. He was arrested Feb. 4 and released the following day on $55,000 bond.
According to an arrest affidavit from Fort Myers Police, officers responded to Lee Memorial Hospital, 2776 Cleveland Ave., on Nov. 19 to reports of stolen items.
The director of nursing told officers that 10 heart monitors and five monitor batteries were unaccounted for. The monitors had been in storage at Lee Memorial Hospital's intensive care unit.
Hospital management told officers they already started an internal investigation after they discovered the monitors went missing in early November.
The monitors were valued at $8,500. The batteries were valued at about $4,500, the report states.
School staffer arrested: Island Coast High School paraprofessional accused of lewd contact with student
While Phillips — the manufacturing company — tracked the serial numbers for the missing items, they noticed that one had been reassigned to a company in Laguna Miguel, California.
Authorities discovered the purchasing company, SakoMed Biomedical Services, listed 10 such monitors in its inventory.
A representative for SakoMed Biomedical Services told authorities they purchased the heart monitors "from an unknown person on eBay."
Authorities tracked the payment to a PayPal account associated with Rodrigues.
When police contacted management at Lee Memorial Hospital, they confirmed his employment as the lead plant operations technician at the hospital and added he had access "to all locations within the hospital."
When authorities met with Rodrigues, he denied knowledge of the thefts and said he does not work with the medical equipment at the hospital.
Rodrigues also said he does not have an online account that sells medical equipment, but confirmed he has an eBay account under the username "Clinicas," which he has had since 2022.
According to the report, Rodrigues also mentioned he found three "batteries" on a broken hospital bed the week prior.
Rodrigues also confessed to misplacing three monitors on a shelf. Hospital officials found the three monitors prior to his confession.
According to the report, Rodrigues offered to let officers review the eBay account on his cellphone.
The review yielded the discovery of a wearable patient monitor Rodrigues reportedly sold.
When confronted, Rodrigues told officers he obtained it from his prior employer, Broward Health, and added that the device does not work.
Rodrigues told officers he sold it for parts to SakoMed Biomedical Services, but said they returned it because it did not work.
Among the items Rodrigues listed for sale or recently sold, the report says, were waterflow control modules, numerous pipe fittings, absorbent bed pads, water filters, and a feeding pump.
When confronted about the pipe fittings, the report states, Rodrigues said he buys the pipe fittings at Home Depot to complete projects at his house and then sells the extra pieces.
A search warrant issued to eBay revealed Rodrigues sold 49 items on an account under the pseudonym of "Clinicas," earning him a profit of $1,857.39.
Authorities said Rodrigues still had 106 items listed for sale with potential earnings of nearly $4,600.
A separate warrant submitted to PayPal revealed Rodrigues, under the username "RICHMEDEQUIP," sold four monitors and earned $8,160.
In addition to the $8,160 sale to SakoMed Biomedical Services, PayPal records show an additional $29,175 worth of transactions between SakoMed Biomedical Services and Rodrigues between Sept. 30 and Dec. 4, 2024,
Authorities said Rodrigues removed approximately $151,390 worth of equipment from Lee Memorial Hospital.
Hospital management told authorities they have not had any other lost items since Rodrigues was placed on leave Dec. 10 before his Feb. 4 arrest.
Jaclyn Bevis, spokesperson for Lee Health, the parent company of Lee Memorial Hospital, said Rodrigues "was placed on crisis leave at the onset of the investigation and is no longer employed at Lee Health."
Rodrigues' arraignment is set March 10.
Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@gannett.com or 772-333-5501. Connect with him on Threads @tomasfrobeltran, Instagram @tomasfrobeltran, Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews and Bluesky @tomasfrodriguez.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Fort Myers Police: Lee Memorial staffer accused of grand theft
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Tom's Guide
13-08-2025
- Tom's Guide
I test Garmin watches for a living and this accessory improves every single one
I've been wearing and reviewing the best Garmin watches for many years and for most of that time I used them with a silicone band, usually the one they came with. This isn't a terrible thing to do — Garmin's silicone straps are more comfortable than most and are easier to clean and dry faster than fabric straps, so can be great for swimmers in particular. However, in the time I've been testing sports watches, nylon bands have become more and more popular, and once I started using one myself I've rarely wanted to go back to a silicone band. Even if you're not sure you'll prefer it, I'd recommend that any Garmin user picks up a nylon band for their watch just in case. You don't have to spend much to get one either. Garmin's own UltraFit nylon bands are expensive at $39, but you can find third-party bands very easily that cost a fraction of that price on Amazon and elsewhere —- the band I use most often is one I found on eBay, just because it's the exact shade of blue I wanted. This is the official option for those who want to get a nylon band from Garmin. The UltraFit band comes in four colors and there are three widths — 20mm, 22mm and 26mm — so make sure you get the right one for your Garmin watch. Garmin does now ship some watches with a nylon band as standard, like the Garmin Enduro 3 and Garmin Venu X1, and I hope this becomes the norm going forward. Or, ideally you get a silicone and nylon band in the box — given the high price of the best sports watches, this would be a nice touch from any brand. The main reason to use a nylon band is comfort. They don't rub the skin or irritate it in any of the ways silicone bands can, and adjusting them is easy since you can pull them exactly as tight as you want, rather than relying on a standard band having a hole in the right place for you. This is a major plus point for those who find they get rashes from silicone bands, and even though I don't suffer from that myself, I do get heat rashes in the summer and find nylon bands more comfortable to wear than silicone bands when I do. Another advantage of the secure fit is that I tend to find I get slightly more consistent heart rate monitoring from watches when using a nylon strap. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. I can tighten the optical sensor snugly against my wrist, and the watch doesn't move around at all during runs in particular. With silicone bands it's sometimes trickier to get the right snugness of fit to get a reliable heart rate reading. While I still default to using a chest strap heart rate monitor when accuracy is essential, nylon bands can help improve the often unreliable heart rate tracking you get from sports watches. One common fear people share when I recommend nylon bands is that they'll feel slimy and unpleasant to wear after showering or swimming with the watch, whereas you can quickly dry off a silicone band. Nylon bands do dry more slowly than silicone bands, but I wash them after a workout then rub them with a towel, and by the time I'm out of the shower myself I don't find them any worse to wear than a silicone band. You can (and probably should) also throw them in with your washing occasionally to get a deep clean, if you're worried about them retaining germs more than a silicone band. To avoid the wet band problem entirely, you can also pick up a set of two and swap between them after a shower, so they can dry entirely between uses. These nylon bands are easy to use with Garmin watches and you get two different colors included for the price. I've used Albanen bands myself for many years and they are almost as nice as the official Garmin UltraFit band, and you get two for half the price of one UltraFit strap. I've accumulated a lot of bands now to suit different watch styles and sizes — like running shoes, you can never have too many. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Boston Globe
12-08-2025
- Boston Globe
Lawsuit of Natick couple harassed by eBay can go to trial, judge rules
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Barring a settlement, the four-year-old lawsuit could go to trial later this year or early next year. Saris has repeatedly said at hearings that she wants to complete the proceedings as soon as possible. Advertisement Wenig, who received $57 million of severance when he left the company a month after the Steiners were harassed, was not criminally charged in the case and has said he did not know about the effort to terrorize the couple and would have stopped it if he had. Attorneys for the eBay and Wenig did not immediately offer comments on the ruling, which was issued after business hours. Advertisement In a statement, Andrew Finkelstein, a lawyer representing the Steiners, said the couple looked forward to a trial. 'The jury will be asked to fully and fairly compensate the Steiners for being subjected to eBay's terror campaign that attempted to silence their free speech rights, and to punish eBay for their egregious actions,' he wrote. In the ruling, Saris wrote that a jury would need to decide if the company was responsible for approving the actions of lower-level employees who conducted the harassment, a legal issue known as ratification. Based on text messages and alleged conversations, Saris determined a jury could find that eBay's former chief communications officer, Steve Wymer, may have 'ratified the conduct' of former security official Jim Baugh, the for his role. A jury would also need to decide whether Wenig, Wymer, and another former executive named Wendy Jones were negligent in supervising Baugh or participated in a conspiracy against the Steiners, Saris ruled. Those claims could be critical to the case because Saris ruled last year that the Steiners could seek punitive damages — $467 million of the amount they are seeking — only if they prevailed on charges of emotional distress or conspiracy. In her Tuesday ruling, Saris also trimmed some of the roughly $62 million the Steiners are seeking for other damages. Saris also dismissed charges that the company had defamed the couple. The judge also dismissed charges against a Nevada-based security contractor that worked for eBay called Progressive Force Concepts. Aaron Pressman can be reached at
Newsweek
12-08-2025
- Newsweek
Woman Buys $3 Bag of Pens at Thrift Store—Then Discovers Their True Value
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. An Ohio woman has revealed how a seemingly ordinary bag of pens purchased from a local thrift store ended up being worth substantially more. In a video posted to TikTok under the handle @cosmicdealheather, the eagle-eyed thrifter revealed how a bag of pens she recently purchased for just $3 ended up being worth somewhere in the region of $100. "You might be wondering why you would buy a bag of pens that's pretty much worthless?" she says on the clip. "The answer is not if they are drug rep pens." "I have been selling things on eBay for 19 years and have sold different pharmaceutical rep pieces over that time period," user @cosmicdealheather, who requested her real name be omitted from this story, told Newsweek. "Certain ones have a market just because it's funny to say you own a Viagra pen or want an Adderall note pad to match your prescription," the poster said. To understand how this all started, you have to go back to 2006 and the publication of a report in the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics. It concluded that even the cheapest of gifts, whether they be T-shirts, cuddly toys or, of course, pens, were capable of influencing physician prescribing decisions. By 2008, the pharmaceutical industry reached an industrywide agreement that brought an end to gift giving of this kind and, in the process, turned those gifts still in circulation into something approaching collectors' items. At the time of writing, there are currently over 2,100 listings under the search term "Drug Rep Pen" on eBay. Highlights include a metal Zoloft pen on offer for $89 and a pair of brand-new OxyContin pens for sale at $79.99. Cosmicdealheather said that pens linked to companies making "painkillers, antidepressants, stimulants, sleep aids, or benzos [benzodiazepines] tend to be the ones people want." She added that, while there is a market for these pens on sites like eBay, it can pay off to cast your net a little wider when it comes to making money off them. "You can find them at thrift stores, estate sales, garage sales, anywhere someone might have old stuff they want to get rid of," the poster said. This new bag of pens contains a few interesting ones and will fetch a decent price once she divides it up into a few different listings. However, there are even more valuable items out there. "I haven't found any of the really expensive ones," the poster said. However, she has had luck with other pharma merch in the recent past. "I find drug rep merch a few times a year while thrifting," she said. "Last year, I got a whole box full of Zoloft tissues for free at a garage sale, so maybe one big score a year." Though it is far from an exact science, Cosmicdealheather said that the demand for these items means anyone scouring the shelves at their local thrift store would be wise to take a closer look at any pens up for sale. "If they see a bag of pens or something at the thrift store and it's full of pharmaceutical pens, it might have value," the poster said.
