CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire prosecutors say a traveling medical technician convicted of infecting patients with hepatitis C waited too long to ask a judge to vacate his sentence.

David Kwiatkowski, who worked at the Hays Medical Center catheterization lab between May and September 2010,  was sentenced in 2013 to 39 years in prison for stealing painkillers and replacing them with saline-filled syringes tainted with his blood.

In January, he asked to be released, saying his lawyer was ineffective. But the U.S. attorney’s office said Friday such claims must be made within a year of conviction.

Despite being fired numerous times over drug allegations, Kwiatkowski worked in 18 hospitals in seven states before being hired by Exeter Hospital in 2011. After his arrest, 46 people in four states were diagnosed with the same strain of the hepatitis C virus he carries, including one who died in Kansas.