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Paramedic accused of stealing from blind patient turns self in

By Edward Marshall, Journal Staff Writer

MARTINSBURG - A Berkeley County Emergency Ambulance Authority paramedic accused of stealing prescription painkillers from patients who included a blind woman and a Hedgesville man who was suffering a heart attack turned herself in Tuesday after authorities obtained warrants for her arrest.

Tracey Jo Wise, 34, of Berkeley Springs, was arraigned on two felony counts of fraudulently obtaining a controlled substance and later was released after posting bail.

At one point during the investigation, she was caught on video removing a fake bottle of OxyContin from a county ambulance after a hidden camera was installed inside, according to court records.

The investigation began Dec. 15, when Cpl. Chris McCulley of the Berkeley County Sheriff's Department was made aware that Wise was suspected of stealing prescription medications from patients.

Wise's supervisor, BCEAA Chief 98 Donald Scheuch, provided McCulley with two handwritten statements he received from Wise's partner, Josh Bartley, who began documenting Wise's behavior after he began to suspect her of stealing the medications.

Details of the statement indicated Wise had, on at least two occasions, stolen prescription medications from patients that were transported to the hospital in the ambulance she was assigned to.

That same day, McCulley met with Scheuch and provided him with a fake prescription bottle containing six imitation OxyContin pills. A hidden video recording device was also installed in the ambulance Wise was assigned to.

Just three hours after Wise's next shift began on Dec. 16, Scheuch called McCulley and informed the officer that Wise had taken the fake prescription bottle from the ambulance. McCulley later removed the hidden recording device and downloaded the video onto his computer. The video showed Wise removing the fake prescription bottle from the ambulance about an hour after she reported for duty.

Minutes later Scheuch called McCulley back and told him that he had been contacted by Bartley. Bartley said Wise informed him that she found the prescription bottle and compared the name on the bottle to the ambulance's "run sheet" from the night before.

She said the name didn't coincide with the run sheet and she believed she was being "set up" but also allegedly said she was considering taking one of the pills, records show.

McCulley and Sgt. B.F. Hall then responded to the ambulance authority's north station and spoke with Wise, who was informed of the investigation. She was then questioned about the allegations against her, as well as the prescription bottle she removed from the ambulance that morning. She later admitted to taking Percocet form a patient, a blind woman, whom she had transported to the hospital on Nov. 10.

She said the fake prescription bottle she removed from the ambulance was in a desk drawer. She was told to retrieve it and returned shortly afterward with the bottle in hand. After opening the bottle, McCulley discovered one of the pills inside was missing. McCulley then asked Wise where the sixth pill was, and she "swore" she didn't take it, records show.

On Dec. 29, McCulley interviewed Bartley, who had been Wise's partner on duty for the previous two to three months. Bartley was able to provide in-depth information relating to Wise's previous thefts and behavior due to their close working relationship.

He told investigators he initially became suspicious of Wise when they were transporting the blind woman to the hospital. The patient was described as a "frequent flyer," meaning they had transported her on numerous occasions, records show. When they received a call to transport the woman on Nov. 10, Bartley said Wise audibly stated, "She has Percocets," records show.

As the patient was being loaded onto the ambulance, Bartley said Wise insisted the patient's husband provide her with all of her medications. Wise then took the medications and remained in the back of the ambulance while Bartley drove. When they arrived at City Hospital, the patient was moved inside the building, and Bartley returned to the ambulance to begin cleaning the rear patient area.

While he was cleaning the area, he found a blue latex glove behind a monitor with pills inside, records show. He then placed the glove back where it was found and walked back into the hospital.

Minutes later, he returned to the ambulance to restock supplies and noticed Wise was in the rear area filling out a report. The glove he had found earlier was gone and wasn't in the trash can.

Shortly after this incident, Bartley contacted Cpl. T.A. Young, also of the Berkeley County Sheriff's Department, and informed the officer he suspected Wise had taken the pills. Young suggested Bartley compile a written record of the incident, as well as any future incidents.

Bartley also detailed another incident on Dec. 6, when he and Wise were dispatched for a patient suffering from cardiac arrest on Allensville Road in Hedgesville. When they arrived at the scene and began tending to the patient, Wise asked the man's family members for his medications, he said.

Several medications bottles were then handed over to Wise for the transport to the hospital. Thomas Gorman, of Hedgesville's Company 30, drove the ambulance while Wise and Bartley remained in the back with the patient. While in route to the hospital, Bartley was administering chest compressions to the patient, while Wise remained by the man's head.

At some point in time, Wise asked Bartley to check what medications were laying between the patient's legs. The first bottle Bartley picked up contained Lortab, also known as Hydrocodone, which a controlled substance only available by prescription, records show.

Wise then asked Bartley to hand it to her. Bartley went back to attending to the patient and observed Wise toss the prescription bottle in a cabinet inside the ambulance.

When they arrived at City Hospital, Bartley intentionally looked at the labels of the medication bottles before relinquishing them to a nurse. Shortly after going into the hospital and coming back to restock supplies in the ambulance, he noticed the bottle of Lortab Wise threw into one of the cabinets was gone, records show.

About one hour later, Bartley noticed Wise began to act differently, and she appeared to be falling asleep. He then said he told her she "looked high," and she laughed, records show.

On Jan. 4, McCulley spoke with Carrie Kesecker, the daughter of the deceased man that was transported to the hospital from Allensville Road. She told officer she was present when Wise and her partner attended to and transported her father to the hospital.

She also stated upon request she provided several bottles of medication to accompany her father to the hospital. One of the bottles contained Lortab, and the woman said she remembered it specifically because she had recently purchased it for her father.

After her father's death, she said she retrieved his personal effects, and the bottle of Lortab was not in the inventory.

If convicted, Wise faces one to four years in prison and/or fines on each count.

-Staff writer Edward Marshall can be reached at (304) 263-8931, ext. 182, or emarshall@journal-news.net

 

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