VALPARAISO (AP) — A hospital nurse who was found passed out with a needle in her hand has been accused of stealing painkillers.

Tracy E. Allen, 33, of Portage is charged with felony theft. Police say the Porter Valparaiso hospital nurse took liquid painkillers and replaced them with salt water.

A nurse reported Jan. 15 that a bottle of the painkiller Fentanyl appeared to have been punctured with a needle and replaced with another substance, Valparaiso police said. That day, Allen was found passed out on a floor.

A phone message left for Allen by The Associated Press Thursday was not immediately returned.

Police said Allen admitted altering drugs. She told them she suffered a back injury and obtained Vicodin and Xanax last fall but became stressed after that. She said she used a syringe to draw medicine from several vials of narcotics like Demerol and morphine in a medicine dispensing machine and then replaced the fluid with salt water.

Allen is no longer a nurse at the hospital, said Kelly Credit, director of planning and business development. The hospital would not say whether she was fired or resigned.

She also said the hospital found "no adverse patient outcomes" tied to the altered vials.