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Police: Nurse Had '4 Or 5' Beers Before Assisting Operation

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP/KDKA) - A suspended nurse who acknowledged drinking four or five beers in the hours before assisting an operation at a veterans' hospital in northeastern Pennsylvania is now facing federal charges.

The U.S. attorney's office on Friday charged 59-year-old Richard Pieri with reckless endangerment under a statute allowing state crimes to be charged in federal court for crimes committed in federal jurisdiction.

Authorities allege that Pieri stumbled into the Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center on Feb. 4 and aided in an emergency surgery. Prosecutors said he told investigators that he had forgotten he was on call and had been drinking at the Mohegan Sun Pocono casino.

According to the Pocono Record, video surveillance allegedly shows Pieri emerge from his Honda Ridgeline truck and collide with a concrete barrier while walking into the medical center just before midnight Feb. 4, nearly falling over several times.

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Pieri resigned after he was charged in Luzerne County, but prosecutors later withdrew those charges, saying they expected the case to continue at the federal level.

The suspended nurse had a troubled past that included being charged in the 1985 hit-and-run death of 65-year-old veteran George Knorr near the hospital.

(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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