MONROE — A Verona nurse will stand trial, barring a plea agreement, on felony charges alleging he took pain medication from patients at the New Glarus home during a shift at the 87-bed, skilled-nursing facility.
Brian C. Jung, 50, a contract nurse who worked at the home for a day on Jan. 9, 2025, also is charged with a misdemeanor for unwanted touching of another nurse, and an incident in which he allegedly barged into a bathroom while a female nurse was partially clothed.
After arguments on both sides, Green County Circuit Judge Jane Bucher, in a hearing Monday, April 28, denied a motion to dismiss the charges against Jung filed by his defense attorney, Gary Miller.
Jung was reportedly under the influence of something other than alcohol on that shift, nurses told authorities, according to the criminal complaint filed against him. And when he administered nightly pain meds to two patients, prosecutors allege Jung likely substituted something else for the actual pain meds, which were powerful opiates.
As a result, both patients complained of persistent pain after their regular pain meds were given by Jung, the complaint said.
The defendant faces nine charges, including felony theft of movable property (special circumstances), obtaining a controlled substance by fraud, imitation of a controlled substance, and intentionally neglecting a resident — causing bodily harm.
Jung also is charged with one count each of misdemeanor invasion of privacy and misdemeanor disorderly conduct; and fourth degree sexual assault.
His client by his side, Miller argued ardently that prosecutors have no direct evidence that he was under the influence of any substance, and that erratic behavior reported by the other nurses was attributable to the fact that Jung was off his anti-depressant medication. Further, he said, no one witnessed him taking pills or the alleged switch of medications.
“We don’t have anybody seeing him take them,” Miller told the court. “We cannot draw any inferences,” from the statement, of other nurses in the complaint.
Prosecutors, however, said they don’t have to prove any of that for a probable cause/motion hearing in which the burden of proof is lower than the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard for criminal trials.
The statements from victims that they were aware of their pain in the face of taking their regular pain meds — and the statements from the staff at New Glarus Home — were enough to support the serious charges, she argued.
“I don’t have to prove he was intoxicated, and I don’t have to prove he took it himself,” said Laura Kohl, the prosecutor.
That same winter night, a nurse complained that Jung grabbed her buttocks at a nursing station and that at some point in the shift he opened a bathroom door while a nurse was inside.
Jung, through his attorney, denied anything untoward or illegal happened, and that those incidents involving touching and the bathroom incident likely were not intentional.
But since Bucher ultimately disagreed with the defense motion to dismiss charges against Jung, he is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing at 11 a.m. May 30 in Bucher’s court.
If convicted, the felony charges against Jung each carry a potential prison sentence of between 3 and 6 years. Jung has been free pending trial on a $2,000 signature bond, court records indicate.