CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — As expected, a federal judge has postponed the trial of a New Hampshire hospital worker accused of infecting patients with hepatitis C through tainted syringes.

David Kwiatkowski, who has pleaded not guilty to 14 drug charges, is accused of stealing painkillers from New Hampshire’s Exeter Hospital and replacing them with syringes tainted with his blood. His trial had been scheduled for February, but lawyers on both sides said they anticipated a delay.

Last week, a judge granted a defense motion seeking a postponement and scheduled the trial for October 1.

Kwiatkowski previously worked in 18 hospitals in seven states. Thirty-two people in New Hampshire have been diagnosed with the same strain of hepatitis C he carries, along with six in Kansas, five in Maryland and one in Pennsylvania.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)