UCLA med student 'stole iPad from a dying cancer patient'
- Police have charged med student Virginia Nguyen with petty theft, grand theft of lost property, and computer access and fraud
- Family of cancer victim Natalie Packer found the deceased's iPad re-registered to Nguyen after Packer passed away
- Device went missing when Packer went into cardiac arrest and Code Blue response attempted to revive her
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A California medical student is facing felony theft charges after allegedly stealing the iPad of a dying cancer patient.
Natalie Packer was a patient at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center being treated for an aggressive form of breast cancer when she went into cardiac arrest.
Only after the chaos of the Code Blue response and attempts to revive her did Packer's family notice that the iPad that had been her source of entertainment and communication had disappeared.
Virginia Nguyen has since pled not guilty to petty theft, grand theft of lost property, and computer access and fraud
The loss was especially wounding to her family, as Packer had used the iPad to write personal messages and information meant for sister Nicole.
The iPad wasn't missing for long. Shortly after Natalie's death, the family used the device's finder app and saw the iPad was still somewhere in the Medical Center - except that the registration had been changed from 'Natalie's iPad' to 'Virginia's iPad.'
The family contacted police, and a search warrant issued to Apple for the reregistration information revealed the iPad was in the hands of Virginia Nguyen, 32, a third-year med student, NBC Los Angeles.
She was arrested on the campus in March and hit with criminal charges this July.
Nguyen has since pled not guilty to petty theft, grand theft of lost property, and computer access and fraud.
Cancer victim Natalie Packer's iPad went missing when she went into cardiac arrest, but uncle Sam Heller said an app to find the device revealed it had been re-registered to Virginia Nguyen
Nguyen told police that she only picked up the iPad because she had mistaken it for her own.
'If you analyze it, it's a pretty lame defense,' said uncle Sam Heller.
Heller insists his niece was the kind of woman who would have offered the iPad as a gift if she knew someone wanted it so much and said he cannot understand why anyone would jeopardize their medical career over it.
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ShareA felony conviction in the case could severely damage Nguyen's future in medicine said Cassandra Hockenson, a spokesperson for the California Medical Board.
The accused has declined to respond to interview requests.
As NBC Los Angeles notes, Nguyen's LinkedIn profile lists her summary as 'committed to providing social justice and healthcare for diverse populations.'
However the University has issued a statement that she is: 'not currently employed at UCLA.'
UCLA would not comment on her current status as a student, only that the university enforces an honor code.
'In those instances when a student's conduct does not meet those standards, we have administrative procedures that ensure appropriate due process is afforded to the student while also moving swiftly yet fairly to ensure accountability to these standards,' read a UCLA statement.
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