Discharged from Hospital, Then Charged with Having Meth, Cocaine

An Iowa man left Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater after a possible overdose at Float Rite Park last August only to find himself charged with felony possession of methamphetamine and cocaine. 

Richard Andrew Nuehring, 19, of Mason City, was brought to Lakeview Hospital from the Somerset, WI recreation area Aug. 11, according to a criminal complaint.

There, a nurse noticed "a white powdery substance surrounding Nuehring's nasal opening," the complaint said. Hospital staff found two small bindles on his person and called police.  

"One of the bindles contained a white powder substance and the other a crystal rock substance," the complaint said. "The crystal rock substance tested positive as methamphetamine and the white powder substance tested positive as cocaine." 

When confronted by a Stillwater police officer upon his discharge from the hospital, Nuehring admitted to having a controlled substance in his possession but told the officer, "Those should have been ketamine." (Ketamine is a schedule 3 controlled substance, the complaint said.)

Nuehring faces two felony counts of fifth-degree possession, each carrying a maximum sentence of five years and $10,000 if he were to receive his first conviction for having a controlled substance. According to online court records, his next appearance in Washington County District Court is Thursday.

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