A woman who allegedly stole a dying patient’s iPad at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center appeared in court Friday to discuss a plea deal that would let her face a sentence of community service instead of jail time.
University police arrested Virginia Nguyen, 32, in March after family members of Natalie Packer saw the iPad was missing from her hospital room after she died. Nguyen was a third-year medical student and worked as a research fellow in the hospital at the time of the theft. UCLA said in a statement that Nguyen no longer works as a researcher, though it is unclear if she is still a student.
The family members used the Find My iPad app to locate the device in the medical center, and a UCPD detective learned from Apple that it had been re-registered as “Virginia’s iPad.”
Nguyen pleaded not guilty in late July to petty theft, grand theft and unlawfully controlling and deleting data from a computer. In addition to the criminal charges, Packer’s family members said Friday that they plan to file a civil lawsuit against Nguyen.
No decision was reached on the plea deal Friday, and Nguyen is scheduled to appear in court again on Nov. 7, according to court documents.
Compiled by Sam Hoff, Bruin senior staff.