Jon Dale Jones, who worked as a nurse at the Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso in 2004, is facing federal criminal charges, accused of infecting as many as 15 patients at the hospital with hepatitis C, the El Paso Times reported.

Jones, who was indicted by a federal grand jury in El Paso on assault and theft charges, was arrested in Miami last week and was released on a $150,000 bond, the paper reported.

He is expected to come to El Paso to face three counts of assault, three counts of aggravated assault and three counts of possessing a controlled substance, but a hearing date has not been set, the Times reported.

The federal indictments don't say how the estimated 15 patients at Beaumont contracted hepatitis C -- a liver disease that is spread primarily by direct contact with the blood of an infected person -- details have been alleged in a number of civil lawsuits filed in the case, according to the Times.

One lawsuit against Beaumont and private companies providing care at the Army hospital alleges that Jones contracted hepatitis C from a patient who was having surgery at the hospital and even though he showed signs of having the disease was allowed to keep on working as an anesthetist, the Times reported.

Then, according to the lawsuit, Jones allegedly stole the painkiller Fentanyl and was administering it to himself before giving it to patients, the paper said.

When several patients contracted the disease, the hospital on Oct. 13, 2004, notified the Texas Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for help in investigating the cases, the Times reported.

According to the lawsuit, the CDC found that 15 patients who had undergone surgery at Beaumont between July 31, 2004 and Oct. 12, 2004 developed hepatitis C infections, and that Jones was the only member of the hospital staff who had provided care for all 15, the paper said.

All the civil lawsuits in the case were stayed in late 2006 by U.S. District Judge Frank Montalvo because of a possible criminal investigation, the Times reported. 

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